Sojourn
by California Kat
Summary: A missing "interlude" of Come Back to Me, Sojourn tells the story of Eric and Sookie's necessary reconnection and healing after their fight with Russell.
1. Chapter 1: Talk First

[_**A/N: **_**Summary: **A "missing chunk" of _Come Back to Me_, _Sojourn_ tells the story of Eric and Sookie's necessary reconnection and healing.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the characters or story of _True Blood_ or the Southern Vampire Mysteries. Charlaine Harris and Alan Ball (and the other writers of _True Blood_) have that honor. No copyright infringement is intended, and I make no profit from my work (except the mental release it gives me).

**Description:** Hello all! _Sojourn_ is a side story or a "missing chunk" of the story of _Come Back to Me_, so I'm afraid that it won't make much sense to you if you haven't read that story or its precursor, _Back and Forth_. _Sojourn_ includes several ideas that were in my original outline for _Come Back to Me_, but I didn't put them in for one reason or another.

**Reminders about **_**Come Back to Me**_**:** As you might remember, in _Come Back to Me_, Eric and Sookie are separated for 20 months (human time) because Claudette forces Sookie to go to the fairy realm. There, Sookie meets and forms close-knit relationships with Niall and Claude; she also has to hone her fairy gifts so that she and Eric can face down a threat predicted by the A.P., which turns out to be the return of Russell Edgington. Meanwhile, Eric takes in Hunter and becomes a father to him, and when Hadley has to stay in the fairy realm because she's eaten the light fruit, Hunter chooses to stay with Eric. After Russell's defeat and Sookie's return, _Come Back to Me_ jumps five years and picks up again on the day of Eric and Sookie's wedding. _Sojourn_ takes place five weeks after Russell is defeated.

Since it may have been a while since you read _Back and Forth_, I will also remind you that in that story Eric and Sookie formed two distinct bonds: a vampire bond and a fairy bond. The vampire bond does mostly the "usual" canon things. It allows Eric and Sookie to feel each other's emotions and sense each other's presence. It allows Eric to track Sookie if they are in the same realm. However, by all accounts, Eric and Sookie's vampire bond is quite powerful. The fairy bond, which Sookie formed with Eric without knowing she was doing it, allows them to feel each other's presence even when they are in two different realms. It also allows them to "share" certain gifts between them. (These reminders will come in handy later.)

_Sojourn_ doesn't have the kind of angst that its parent had (sorry Scorp), and there is no action (unless you like interior drama, which you know I do). What it does contain is a lot of love with some necessary healing for both Eric and Sookie. It is written in a series of first-person points of view (different than _B&F_ and _CBTM_, which were all in third person). Most of it is from Eric's or Sookie's point of view, but there is one part that veers to the viewpoint of another (not a villain—sorry, it's not that kind of story), but I'll let that identity be a surprise for you.

This story is about 50,000 words altogether (I'm guessing around 15 chapters, but I'm not sure), and I don't anticipate it growing too much as I revise. As is my usual practice, the story is already complete except for the final edits, which means that I will likely be able to post a new chapter every day or every other day.]

_**Please Enjoy!**_]

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**Sojourn**

**Chapter One:**** Talk First **

_The Second Week of September 2011_

_**SPOV**_

I gripped Eric tightly, both for utility's sake—we were over fifty feet in the air, after all—and for the simple reason that I liked holding on to him. Actually, I loved it.

I loved him.

In fact, I loved him in a big, sappy, cavity-inducing way. It was the kind of love I'd pretty much given up on as unobtainable—simply the stuff of fairytales.

But—then again—I was part fairy. And, after a thousand years, Eric _definitely_ deserved his "happily ever after." And I was just the fairy princess to make damned sure he got it! And he was my Viking prince. I chuckled at the notion that we were both, in fact, descended from royalty. Yet we were both blissfully happy with the simple life we were making with one another, with Hunter, and with the rest of our "family"—or "clan" as Eric liked to call them.

"What are you contemplating in that beautiful head of yours, min kära?" Eric asked as he landed us in the yard in front of the cabin.

I waited to answer for a moment as I stretched out my telepathy to make sure that we were alone and safe. I knew that Eric was checking the area with his senses too. We both grinned at each other.

"All clear?" he asked me.

"Yep. You catch any whiff of enemies?" I playfully rejoined.

"Two opossums—fifty yards to the northeast."

"_Were_-opossums?" I asked with mock concern.

He chuckled and then contemplated. "You know―I don't think there is any such thing as a Were-opossum."

I giggled.

He took my hand and began to lead me into the cabin. "So what were you thinking about?"

"Just about how we're due for a little peace," I said with a squeeze to his hand. "And really fucking due for _a lot_ of happily ever after."

He chuckled. "Tsk, tsk, lover. What would Gran say about your language?"

I giggled. "Gran sometimes cursed like a sailor—in her head, at least. And I'm certain that she would forgive me—just this once." I smiled innocently at him.

From our bonds, I could tell that he didn't buy my innocent act at all. Oh well. I couldn't blame him; after being held so closely by him for twenty minutes, I had anything but innocent things at the forefront of my mind at that moment. In fact, even though my mate was insisting that we get the discussion we needed to have out of the way before we spent the rest of our little getaway in bed, I was itching for a little of that "happily ever after" right then. In fact, I was practically dripping for it.

Eric chuckled again as a not-so-innocent smile spread over my lips and I sent him a little surge of lust through our bond. Not much. Just enough to butter him up a bit.

He bent down and gave me a little kiss on the nose and a playful swat to the bottom. "Tsk, tsk," he chided. "Talk _first_. _Then_ I intend to worship every fucking inch of your body."

"Language, Mister," I jabbed teasingly as I returned the favor by swatting his perfect bottom and then giving it a little rub. I'm sure I moaned a little as I felt that particular piece of his anatomy under my hand. Gluteus _Maximus_ indeed!

"Talk _first_, woman!" he reminded with a shake of his head as he gently batted my hand away from where it still rested on his bottom.

"Oops," I said, trying the innocent act again, "I must have forgotten that hand was there." I bit my lip.

"Sookie," he growled a little.

"Yes?" I asked, feeling his mirth and lust combining in the bond.

The panty-destroying leer he was giving me was _not_ helping his case for having our talk first.

"Talk _first_," he repeated.

"Yep," I nodded obediently. "_Talk_ first," I agreed—at least out loud—even as I plotted ways to get his clothes off of him within the next five minutes.

As we entered the cabin, Eric's phone beeped with a message. He looked down and smiled at it. "Hunter tells us to enjoy our 'play-date.'"

I giggled as Eric turned on the lights and led me into the living room. It was—sadly—way too hot for a fire. September was proving to be even more scorching than August, and the humidity was brutal. However, without needing to speak about it, Eric and I still started to construct a pallet for ourselves on the floor. I had bent over to arrange some pillows when I heard a growl coming from behind me—feral and predatory.

Playing my role of prey to perfection, I turned around slowly to see that Eric was as naked as the day he was born. He'd obviously been turned on when I'd bent over to perform my task. It _might_ also have been the fact that I had been purposely swaying my hips and my bottom a bit more than I'd needed to. And it probably had something to do with the fact that I was wearing short jean shorts—_very_ short jean shorts. It _was_ hot outside, after all.

In truth, I always enjoyed seeing how riled up I was able to get my mate. And he never disappointed, nor did he complain.

"Talk _first_?" I asked coyly, biting my lip again and maybe drawing just a little blood. Oops. Accidents—they do happen.

He growled again.

"Minx," he said under his breath.

"_Were_-minx?" I asked, licking my lip a little.

Despite my victory in enticing my husband into nudity within the first five—no, make that three—minutes of what Hunter called our "play-date," I managed to stifle my smirk. Of course, the vampire bond I shared with Eric gave away my feeling of triumph. Oops.

"Were you hot?" I teased, gesturing toward my husband's nude body, a body that was moving slowly and lithely toward me. I had a hard time not drooling at his beauty—or allowing my eyeballs to pop out like one of the cartoon characters I now watched so much because of Hunter.

"_You_ were hot," his eyebrow quirked up playfully.

"I _was_?" I asked. "I'm not anymore?"

"Oh, lover," he leered. "You are still very _hot_. Perhaps," he suggested as his hands met the bottom of my T-shirt and began to lift it up, "I can assist you by getting some of these _heavy_ clothes off."

It was my turn to smirk as I looked down at my clothing, which consisted of a T-shirt, cut-off shorts, and well-worn Keds. "Oh yes," I said, trying to sound serious. "I am afraid I wore very _heavy_ clothes today, and it's just so hot outside."

"Mmmm hmm," Eric sounded.

"I'm sure we could have our talk better if we both cooled off _first_," I whimpered as Eric leaned in to lick the tiny trace of blood from my lip, healing the small wound as he did so.

"Mmmm."

It didn't take my vampire long at all to be "helpful." Soon my clothing was on the floor. Actually I think my panties landed in the fireplace, which seemed rather appropriate since I now felt like _I_ was on fire in the region they'd recently been covering. In fact—now that I thought about it—the fireplace was probably the only safe place for them since they'd probably been ready to combust.

But I stopped caring about underwear _and_ fire safety as Eric drove into me hard even as he laid me down on the pallet.

Well—actually—his hard forward motion was probably "helped along" due to the fact that I'd wrapped my legs around his delicious ass and was using all the strength in my body to bring him down against my flesh. And _maybe_ my hand was guiding his gracious plenty into my opening while I was doing that.

But—honestly—how could've I resisted the pleasure of my husband's G.P. for even one more second? The answer was that I couldn't. Despite how much I loved foreplay with Eric, sometimes the appetizer just wasn't welcome when the main course was already ready. Delicious.

"Oh God, Eric," I gasped as I felt my body stretching around his girth. Once he felt me tug onto his back, he began to move in and out of me, quickly establishing a rhythm that should have been illegal.

I had always been amazed by how fast my Viking could bring me to the edge of an orgasm. Of course, he could get me wet and ready for him with only a look, so I shouldn't have been surprised.

But he seemed to be even more on his game tonight than usual—and that was saying something! After only about a minute of his being inside of me, I was already teetering toward my release.

And he knew it too. With a mischievous look competing with the passion in his eyes, he slowed down his pace.

"Eric," I groaned.

"Yes, lover?" he asked as he moved in and out of me in methodical, deep strokes.

"Uh—um," I bit my lip a little at the pleasure caused by his pubic bone hitting my clit.

"What did you want to tell me, lover?" he purred over me.

"I forgot," I moaned as my head lolled back. "Just keep doing that."

"Oh—I will," Eric assured as he continued his slow rhythm, bringing me to the edge of release again before changing this pace _again_.

I wanted to beg for him to let me cum, but I knew one thing for damned sure: begging would only make Eric's sweet torture of me last longer. Plus, I trusted that what he was doing was going to lead to a much more powerful release for us both. Eric was never one to do things halfway.

So I was just gonna have to lie there and take it. And I was willing to do that. _More_ than willing.

I hadn't had a lot of lovers in my life. Two was not an impressive number for one's sex résumé in this day and age. But I'd heard from a lot of women's heads—and some men's—over the years that learning to fake an orgasm was a must.

However, I'd never faked one. I'd never had to—never needed to.

With Bill, there had been times that I didn't "finish," but, honestly, he'd not seemed overly concerned about those. He'd once told me—awkwardly and in his most genteel accent—that the female orgasm was not to be expected every time during sex. It was, according to Bill, "more elusive, and, therefore, more precious."

In vulgar terms that Gran _definitely_ wouldn't have approved of, I could report that there were several times that Bill had "gotten off" and then hadn't really bothered to make sure I had. And—because I'd never had a partner before Bill and things still usually felt "good" even if I didn't have an orgasm—I'd never complained.

One of those times had been in the graveyard—the night I'd thought Bill had been killed in the fire with Malcolm, Diane, and Liam. That night, I'd been equal parts aroused and frightened by Bill. When he'd cum quickly, I'd been glad, despite the fact that I wasn't even close to reaching my own completion. Mainly, I was just happy to be alive after that encounter with Bill, and I was ready for a shower. As it turned out, dirt plus the crevices in my body were not a great combination.

Bill had apologized for being what he called "extra amorous" with me that night, and he'd had tons of excuses for it, all of which I'd accepted without question at the time. Bill had claimed that he'd been "distressed" that night in the graveyard; after all, he'd not been able to make it home the morning before and had to seek safety in the ground. He also said that he was "merely responding to my emotions" and his own hunger after just waking. Plus, he'd claimed that vampires were always "a bit more wild" outside. He said that the combination of factors had led to his "over-enthusiasm."

Yes. He'd been full of excuses.

Looking back, however, I knew that what he'd really been full of was shit. Bill had been rough with me—too rough—because he'd _wanted_ to be and because he'd cared more about his own pleasure than mine. Sure—he'd barely made it to ground that night because he was "visiting" with Malcolm, Diane, and Liam, but he'd _not_ been injured before going to ground. He'd been "hurried." And—if I knew anything about Malcolm, he would've had at least one live donor on hand during Bill's visit, and I couldn't imagine that Bill had refrained from feeding. He certainly wasn't going to when I'd met Malcolm and his screwed up crew before. So there was no way that Bill was "dying" of hunger that night. He hadn't been a freakin' newborn, after all, and I'd served him two TruBloods in Merlotte's just the night before!

Plus, I now knew that his excuse about being "outside in the wild" was utter bullshit too.

Eric and I had also had sex outside; in fact, our very first time together was outside. But that encounter was so different from the one with Bill that the two could hardly be compared. Eric had made sure to lay me on top of some of our discarded clothing. He'd made sure to be gentle so that I wasn't pounded into the unforgiving, hard dirt. And he'd given me _two_ orgasms before he'd allowed himself to fall into his first.

In contrast to Bill, Eric really had been weakened when we'd made love outside. Eric's hands had been bound in silver by Bill for at least part of the time he was in Bill's custody. He'd been kept in Bill's little dungeon during the day, and I knew from Eric himself that he'd not fed between the time he drained Claudine and the time I offered him my blood the next night in the cubby. He certainly hadn't taken any of my blood during our first night of sex, and he'd had lots of opportunities to.

Bill's almost-violent treatment of me in the graveyard couldn't be explained away by his "concern" over my sadness either. If he had been truly concerned about me, why would he have been so rough when we'd had sex, and—to be vulgar again—why hadn't he gotten me off? The answer was simple. Bill didn't lose control because of my sadness; he lost control because of my fear. His hand had literally come out of the ground and grabbed me. And I'd been afraid.

Eric, too, might have responded to my fear or my sadness by losing his self-control that night we were together in the woods. I was ripe for the picking―so to speak. I'd been out at night during a full moon by myself. I'd been so worried about Jason that I was walking through the woods when I knew that witches and Weres and vampires could all be out. I had a shotgun, but—honestly—against Supernaturals, it wouldn't have been enough. And I was scared that night—for Jason and for my own safety. Moreover, I was terrified by what Bill was going to do to Eric.

A part of me that I was trying to ignore right then was afraid that Eric was already dead, but I'd kept moving forward through the woods anyway. Maybe that's why I'd kept moving. I couldn't lose both Eric and Jason in the same night.

However, when he found me, Eric hadn't tried to cultivate my fear; he'd done the opposite. He'd stayed at a distance and waited for me to know it was him before he approached me. Eric had soothed away my fears. He'd put me first, and he'd taught me that night what a truly unselfish lover could be like.

So _no_—with Eric, there had definitely never been a need to fake an orgasm. And I was extremely thankful that there never would be one. Apparently, the female orgasm wasn't so elusive after all. Oh—Eric was the master at keeping them at bay, as he was proving even then, but when he did let them come to me, they came in force.

My mate seemed to know where all the magic buttons on my body were located. He seemed to _like_ pressing them even more, and he was pushing them even as my overactive mind was trying to keep some control over my writhing body.

When I was still a virgin, I'd had―of course―some experience eliciting orgasms from myself. And from the heads of others, I'd learned that a woman could often "get herself off" before any man could because she knew just where and how to touch herself, but my vampire was evidence against that theory. He could take my body from 0 to 99 in seconds. Of course, he could take it right back down again—time and time again.

"Eric," I moaned again, as he sped up his pace. The needful look in his eyes told me that he could no longer hold himself back.

My orgasm began approaching like a speeding freight train as Eric brought out what I liked to call the "big guns." Yep—he managed to find the elusive G-spot with _his_ big gun. I had seriously thought that spot didn't exist—at least not for me—until the first time Eric had "stumbled" upon it in the woods.

I groaned. Yep—I'd learned _very_ quickly with Eric what all the fuss was about with the G-spot. And I loved the feeling of his member stroking it again and again, but I wasn't quite satisfied yet. I wanted more. Call me greedy.

With a single groan and a heated look between us, my husband seemed to understand exactly what I wanted, and he moved one of his hands so that his long fingers were swirling around my clit.

I'm pretty sure I called him God in that moment, but I was too busy with my orgasm to know for sure.

Right as I started quaking, Eric's orgasm began as well. I wondered briefly if it was our vampire bond that always had us completing at about the same time. Before we'd started the first bond—when Eric had amnesia—I always seemed to come first, as if Eric was purposely holding himself back so that I would find pleasure before he sought his own. Of course, I honestly didn't care if Eric came first. His recovery time was—well—let's just say that I'd drafted a long thank you letter to Santa because of my vampire's recovery time. And even if he did soften, his fingers and tongue would have been a more than adequate backup.

Yep—sex with Eric was a good thing. A _very_ good thing. And after everything that life had thrown at us in the last several years, we were ready to enjoy our lives—and the very good things in them—without having a threat looming over us.

I was panting and sweating as I came down from my release. But thankfully, I had a Viking-sized "air conditioning unit" in the form of my cool vampire to snuggle next to. I thought how funny it was that most people snuggled for warmth, but I often found myself snuggling with Eric to cool off.

My vampire sighed as he smoothed my messy hair. I loved the sound of that force of air from his lips. I'd come to know a lot of different kinds of sighs from Eric. This one was my favorite because it sounded out his contentment.

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[**A/N 2: ** I hope you liked meeting up with this Eric and Sookie again. I will be posting this story on my WordPress site too, but it won't be there until tonight since it will take me a while to get the page set up. If you want to read there, you'll find me at californiakat1564 . wordpress . com

_**Next up: **_ Shall we delve into the Viking's mind?]


	2. Chapter 2: Loss & Gain

**Chapter 2: Loss & Gain**

_**EPOV**_

I had vowed to myself that I would wait patiently to worship my bonded's body; I had promised myself that we would have our discussion first.

After that, I'd intended to take my time paying proper homage to each and every inch of her delectable form—_before_ I pillaged her.

Obviously, by plans didn't work out the way I'd wanted them to. We'd not even been at the cabin for thirty minutes, and we were already a mass of naked, tangled bodies on the floor.

In my defense, my gorgeous minx had baited me with her ass wiggle. _And_ there had been the shameless flirting outside. _And_ she'd clung to me tightly during the whole flight to the cabin. _And_ there was the lust that she had been sending through our vampire bond. She had not played fair. My wife just did not play fair sometimes.

And I fucking loved it.

Also—in my defense—Sookie had been back from the fairy realm for only five weeks, and it was still pretty difficult for me to keep my eyes, my hands, and all the other parts of my body off of her. Lafayette liked to joke that we were having "catch-up sex." Of course, when Hunter overheard that from Lafayette's mind, he'd thought that his Uncle Lala had said "ketchup sex."

The poor boy had been confused for days before he'd asked Sookie and me for clarification. Even if I lived ten thousand years, I would never forget the serious look on Hunter's face as he had asked me to explain what sex what. His immediate follow-up question had been about whether we used _ketchup_ when we had sex because it looked like blood.

I could chuckle about it now. But at the time, I'd wanted to run away and leave answering Hunter's questions to Sookie.

"What?" Sookie asked, tilting her chin up to look at me. Gods, she was beautiful.

"Ketchup," I said. That one word was enough to make us both start laughing; it would probably make us laugh for our entire eternity to come.

Still giggling, Sookie rearranged herself so that she was turned on her side and facing me. I mirrored her pose and then pulled her into my body. I loved to feel her body heat near my cool flesh. I loved to rest my hand in the valley above her hip.

I loved everything about her.

She smiled widely as we silently looked at each other.

"Hunter's amazing," she said after a while even as she took hold of my hand, moved it to where she wanted it between us, and then entwined her fingers into it. Enjoying her affectionate touch, I closed my eyes for a moment.

"Yes," I agreed.

"You're purring," she said.

"Vampires don't purr," I said, my eyes still closed and my contentment flowing into the bond.

"What's that sound then?" she asked.

"A rumble," I answered. "A very masculine _rumble_." I opened one eye, seeing if she would challenge my word choice.

"Hmm," she sounded a little skeptical. "A rumble—huh?"

"Indeed," I confirmed, closing my eye again.

"Do all vampires _purr_—I mean rumble?" she asked curiously.

I ignored her jibe. "I have no idea actually. I have never heard another vampire make this noise, nor had I made it before I was with you." I paused for a moment. "It is odd. I often do not know that I am doing it until you point it out."

"Maybe it's the bond?" she offered.

"It cannot be," I said, opening my eyes.

"How do you know?" she asked.

"The first night we made love—before we made the fairy bond or started the vampire bond—I made this sound," I shared. "You had fallen asleep for a while, and I recognized that I was doing it when I almost woke you."

"Oh," she sounded. "Wait."

"What is it?" I asked.

"Well," she said with a sly grin, "you said that vampires don't purr, but you've never heard any other vampires 'rumbling' either. So, then how do you know it's a rumble? It sounds like purring to me."

I felt her mirth in the bond.

"Is this similar to how you don't snort—_supposedly_?" she asked.

"I do_ not_ snort," I denied, my own mirth joining hers in the bond.

"Then I never cuss," she grinned.

"I have never heard a single curse word from your delectable lips, lover," I teased indulgently.

"Then I've never heard you fuckin' purr," she said sarcastically before she giggled into my chest.

"Exactly, lover," I said with a chuckle as I drew her tightly to me.

We were silent for a few minutes, each of us content to draw patterns on each other's body with our fingertips.

"I don't think I'll ever forget the feeling from your side of the bond when you realized that Hunter was broaching the sex topic with us," she giggled.

I opened my eyes to see hers dancing.

"Godric turned me well before my human children got old enough to learn of such things," I defended. "Plus, things were different in my time. Sex was simply a part of life—not the taboo subject that it is now. I was just not expecting 'the talk'—not yet, at least."

"When he told us that he and Emma had talked it over and that all they could figure out was that I liked to eat French fries while we were having sex, I almost lost it," Sookie laughed. "And when Hunter asked you if sex made people hungry, I thought you were gonna just fly away."

"I considered it!" I admitted. In fact, I had. We'd been outside hanging out by the pool after having a swim when Hunter had broached the topic—with little Emma right by his side—and the sky had looked pretty damned good in that moment.

We shared another chuckle. Of course, being a telepath, Hunter had run into the word "sex" before, but he was only seven, still too young—thankfully—to care much about it. When Hunter had first entered my life, he was but five years old, and he'd lived a relatively solitudinous life with Remy Savoy and then his birth mother.

But I had come to learn that the differences between five and seven years old were vast, especially if the seven-year-old in question had a precocious eight-year-old "girlfriend." Hunter had changed so much in such a short time, and my heart dipped momentarily at the thought that he would one day die—unless he decided to become a vampire, which was a decision Sookie and I would leave completely up to him when the time was right.

I couldn't help but to hope that Hunter would have the long lifespan of the Fae—especially if he visited the "in-between place," which Claude had begun calling Dùraig, with adequate frequency. But when I thought of my son's future, I saw him sharing a relatively normal lifespan with the girl he'd already hooked his heart to. I saw them marrying young. I saw them living a comfortable, steady life, which I would do my damnedest to make sure was a safe and secure one. I imagined them having children and grandchildren. But I didn't want to get my hopes up that he would join Sookie and me as a vampire.

To hope for that was to lay my heart out before a firing squad and to pray that none of them could aim worth a shit.

Thus, I was already trying to reconcile myself to the idea that I would probably lose my child to death one day—just as I'd lost my human children, so long ago.

"Hey," Sookie said as she reached up to tenderly cup my chin. "Where did you go?"

I gave her a sad smile. "I was thinking about the future. We will have the family Hunter leaves us—his legacy―but . . . ." I stopped, unable to finish my sentence.

She exhaled slowly, her warm breath—still minty from when she'd brushed her teeth before we left the house—warming me. As always, she seemed to understand my train of thought without my needing to speak it.

"But one day, we may lose him," she finished for me.

I nodded and looked at her seriously. "One day, we will begin to lose _many_ of those who are around us. This is one of the reasons why vampires do not tend to form relationships with humans or even the two-natured. And it is hard to find other vampires who will be loyal for an eternity, so we avoid fraternity among each other too—unless it is with our progeny or our makers. We avoid relationships because we do not wish to face," I paused, "the inevitable hazard of loss. We do not want to be vulnerable to it." I sighed. "Demons have always been our best bets for association—as they live long and are known for their abiding loyalty."

"Association?" she queried quietly.

"Friendship," I corrected, thinking of Jesus.

She gave me a little smile.

I raised her hand to my lips and looked at her sadly. "However, now we are _both_ in trouble."

"Because we're gonna live on and we broke the _rules_?" Sookie asked.

"Yes." As a matter of fact, with Sookie, I had broken _many_ of the unspoken rules of vampires. I'd attached myself to others—_many_ others. And—at least within our clan—I publically showed my affection for her and for my son. Because Sookie had agreed to join me as a vampire—if the Fae magic that was keeping her young ever began to wear off—she was breaking the rules too.

She exhaled a slow breath, and I could see a tear shining in her eye. "We're _always_ gonna break those rules though."

I nodded. "Yes. When Hunter gives us grandchildren, we will value them even as we value our child."

She smiled a little; she was thinking about the love and not the loss. And that was only one of the many reasons why I _needed_ her beside me—why I couldn't do any of this without her there.

"Value?" she asked quietly.

"Love," I corrected myself again.

"Our grandchildren will give us great-grandchildren," she said, barely above a whisper.

"And we will _love_ all of them," I said with a sad smile.

After a few minutes of quiet touching, Sookie spoke again. "We _have_ found vampires that can be our abiding friends. We're lucky."

I nodded in agreement. "Duncan, Thalia, Bubba—yes, they will stay our friends through time. And, of course, Pam and Jessica too."

"And maybe Molly?" she added.

I chuckled. "Yes—as long as Pam doesn't antagonize her too much."

"But Pam really likes Molly," Sookie insisted.

"True," I relented. "But Pam really likes her new pumps too, but that affection will only last for a season."

Sookie chuckled, but looked a little sad for Pam.

I shrugged. "Maybe this time will be different. I have never seen her maintain a relationship for more than a month or so. But from my bond with her, I know her feelings spike when she sees young Molly."

A faraway look in her eyes, Sookie asked, "Do you think Jess will turn Jason into a vampire?"

"If they bond, she will want to," I responded. "Will he accept?"

Sookie thought for a moment. "I think so," she nodded. "And they are already talkin' about adopting kids while he's still human."

I smiled and pulled her a little closer. "Then you will keep your brother and his family."

"And you and I will be Aunt Sookie and Uncle Eric," she said.

"That we will, my love," I returned.

She sighed. "But we'll lose Miranda and Jarod and Tara and Lala and Jesus and Henry. So many others too."

"I know," I said softly as I played with her silky tresses. "Jesus's demon blood will allow him to live quite a long time, and the two-natured tend to have longer lifespans as well, but we _will_ lose them all eventually."

"But," Sookie smiled, "we'll have little Godric for a while—and the other kids that are coming."

"Yes," I agreed. "The children of our friends may one day step into their parents' roles—or into other roles in our lives."

"But we'll lose all of them too," Sookie said sadly.

"Yes," I confirmed softly. There was no use lying about the inevitable.

Our conversation halted again as we continued our caresses of one another.

"I will never regret the life we have chosen—the people in our family," she said suddenly. There was fire in her eyes.

"Nor will I, min kära," I promised.

She smiled and sat up a little. I moved to match her. I could tell that she was ready to move away from the sad topic that we'd fallen onto. I also knew that we'd have to revisit it many times in the years to come as the members of our clan aged and then died. However, we would be together to face all of the losses that would occur. It wouldn't make them any less heart-breaking, especially in the case of my son—_our_ son—but it would make it easier since my helpmeet would always be by my side.

* * *

_**SPOV**_

The thought of eventually losing all the people I loved had initially been the main reason why I'd not wanted to be made a vampire. Of course, Niall had now confirmed that I was aging very slowly, and as long as I continued to visit the fairy realm—even just what Claude now called Dùraig—with enough frequency, Niall didn't think my aging would speed up again.

When I thought about it now, most of my previous arguments against becoming a vampire were illogical or null. The person I loved the most was one―after all! And there was no way that I wanted to leave him. No way that I could.

Of course, I'd entertained the notion of becoming a vampire even before I met Bill; almost everyone I knew did—at least in their heads—as soon as vampires revealed themselves to the world. It was hard not to imagine what it might be like to cheat human death. However, at the time, my own life was so different, and I couldn't imagine living forever. Frankly, I wouldn't have wanted to live the life I had then forever. At that time, I still didn't have great control over my shields, and I couldn't imagine finding someone I could have a romantic relationship with. An eternity of being a single waitress, struggling to pay the bills? Well, I said "no thank you" to that idea!

Plus, I admired Gran's quiet dignity as she aged. And I really did love the sunlight; now I knew that I was drawn to it because I was part fairy. Back then, it just seemed like another good reason not to become a creature of the night.

And then I met Bill, and for a while, I thought that I loved him. Oh—I now knew that it was mostly his blood that had caused my affection for him, but we did have some good times together, and in those times, I did contemplate what it would be like to become a vampire so that I could stay with Bill. With him, I had feared that my aging would eventually become a factor and that it would cause him either to leave me or to stay with me out of pity. Neither of those outcomes was something I wanted, but becoming a vampire would have prevented them. So—yes—I had thought about what it might be like to have Bill as a maker, but becoming a vampire just to avoid his leaving me or his discomfort over my aging didn't seem like good enough reasoning.

Plus, the more I learned about the relationships between makers and their children, the less I liked the prospect of having a maker myself.

When we were together, Bill didn't tell me much about the connection between makers and their progeny, but I had picked up some things. It had seemed to me that most makers were sexually involved with their children for a while, but then that sexual attraction eventually died out. I'd learned that that was what happened in Eric and Pam's case. Of course, Eric and Pam had become enduring friends after that—almost like siblings at times. I'd also learned that most makers eventually separated from their children as Godric had separated from Eric. I picked up that makers could control their progeny through commands, but could release their children if they wanted to. After I'd met Lorena in Dallas, Bill told me a little more about makers. He said that some of them became obsessed with keeping their children near them—with keeping control over them.

The thought of being perpetually controlled by someone had terrified me, so I'd bristled at the thought of becoming a vampire after that. I think that part of my subconscious had known that Bill was, even then, trying to control me with his blood. Maybe that's why I'd been so against the thought of him—or anyone else—turning me at the time.

When I was first allowing myself to acknowledge that I loved Eric, I didn't have the same fears about having him as my potential maker as I'd had with Bill. There was something in me that had always trusted Eric, even when he'd done underhanded things. I knew that Eric would not use his status as maker to try to control me or to change me. What I had still feared about becoming a vampire, however, was that one day Eric might stop loving me. The thought that I would end up walking the earth forever—all alone and with a shattered heart—had terrified me.

But that was before I completed the vampire bond with Eric. The fear that he would ever stop loving me as much as I loved him went away as soon as I felt what was in his heart. The bond hadn't caused our love, but it _did_ show me our love from Eric's perspective. And it was not something that had an expiration date.

Even though I knew from the start that Eric wanted me to eventually join him as a vampire, I had never feared what would happen if I stayed a human. I wasn't worried about aging with Eric; I knew that the love he had for me would be the same even if I became an old woman while he remained perpetually young. And I knew that his eyes would continue to hold only love for me—never pity.

When Eric had come to visit me in the fairy realm, I'd felt the emotional drain that my long absence had caused him. And that was when I knew for sure that I never wanted to leave his side once we were finally together again. And if that meant eventually becoming a vampire, then so be it. To tell the truth, I'd felt a little foolish about dragging my feet about the whole thing. When I weighed having Eric against having human food and a tan? Well, let's just say that Eric weighed a lot more. A _whole_ lot more!

Plus, I wouldn't actually lose everyone in my life as I'd feared before. There would be a lot of people who would remain with us for a very long time—if not forever.

I figured that Pam might one day move on to become a queen. It was my opinion that "she protested too much" about the Oklahoma thing. And she'd make a good queen. Thalia shared with me her plan to give Pam Nevada once Hunter was grown up. We all knew that Pam would want to stay close to home until then, but Pam—for all her spoiled nature—was a free spirit. And she'd eventually want to make her own way, but I knew that she would continue to be a fixture in our lives nonetheless.

I figured that Duncan and Batanya would shadow Hunter for the remainder of his childhood. And I was certain that Eric and I would stay close to Hunter as long as he lived—no matter where he wanted to settle once he became an adult. After that, I didn't know what the Britlingen and her mate would do, but I was betting they'd stay close too. Duncan lacked the ambition to become a king—just as Eric did—and the two of them were truly brothers in every way that mattered.

If my own brother became a vampire, I wasn't sure what he and Jessica would do or where they would go, but I knew that they would remain constants in my life and that we would all visit one another.

And my fairy kin would also live a long time—though I wondered sometimes whether Niall was becoming a little weary of his life. Claude had the same thoughts. He told me that some fairies had lived to be three times Niall's age, but at a certain point, most of the elders simply decided to move on to the Summerlands when they were pulled there strongly enough by those who were waiting. I sometimes wondered if my great-grandmother Viola had begun pulling him more forcefully. Goodness knows―I wouldn't blame her if she had. I knew that I would always pull to be near Eric.

So—yes—somewhere along the line, I had realized just how messed up my logic about becoming a vampire had been. All life had death and loss mixed in—human life included. Even as a "normal" human, a person could outlive his or her entire family and all of his or her friends. I thought of Gran. What if Neave and Lochlan had attacked my parents' car when we were on our way to Gran's house and not when my parents were leaving it? But for a twist of timing, Jason and I would have been dead too. Aunt Linda died of cancer not long after that. Hadley would likely have never found her way back home. And Gran—having lost all her children and grandchildren—would have been alone with no family. Death was unpredictable—especially human death.

As time moved on, Eric and I _would_ lose a lot of people that we loved. However, I knew that I'd have my vampire by my side for eternity. We would survive our losses together.

Eric had zipped into the bathroom to bring me a light robe and a warm washrag so that I could clean up after our little romp. He came out with a pair of dark grey boxer briefs on. I knew that they were for my benefit. I still had a hard time talking to him when we were naked—mostly because my husband's body was just too damned distracting—and it was too hot to stay under the covers.

"You got the list?" Eric asked me.

I nodded. We'd been compiling a list of all the topics we wanted to talk about during our time at the cabin. At home, we'd spent as much time with Hunter as possible since I'd come back from the fairy realm. Not that I was complaining about that! I loved that little boy more every second I was with him, but there were many things that Eric and I needed to discuss without Hunter present.

And there were a few things that needed to heal too. Oh—Eric and I were solid, and I could feel his love for me growing with each day, just as my love for him was increasing. But since I'd gotten back from the fairy realm, Eric's fear about losing me again had remained. Even though he tried to hide it, I could feel his fear edging into the bond now and then. Instinctively, I knew that the more time Eric and I could be alone together without outside distractions, the more likely he would be to realize the depth of his fear and start to overcome it.

Of course, after Hunter went to bed each night, Eric and I had certainly had some time alone, but much of that had contained more moaning than talking. Plus, there always seemed to be something that we needed to do when we were at home.

It seemed that almost every night, there were reconnections for me to make or work to do. Plus, in my absence, we'd grown to be a big family, which I loved. But there was a drawback to that; it automatically meant less uninterrupted time for Eric and me.

Still, I did love family time, and Eric and I wanted to stay close to the people around us—and not become a closed-off world in ourselves. Eric had been a mostly solitary creature for so long, and I could tell that he was thriving from having a "clan" to watch over. He'd kept himself from forming close relationships—with the exceptions of Godric, Pam, and Duncan—for a thousand years, but now that he had a big family, I could tell that he was happier.

I was happier too. I'd always wanted a big family, and I loved spending time with everyone. For instance, every Monday, we had a huge group of people over to the house. First it was for a movie night, but now—since Monday Night Football was about to begin—it would be for a football night.

I could already tell that Eric was excited about the season opener of Monday Night Football, which was now less than a week away. The New England Patriots, one of Eric's favorite teams, were going to be playing the Miami Dolphins. To tease my mate, I'd bought a Tom Brady jersey to wear during the game. It was a well-established fact in our group that Eric "admired" the quarterback of the Patriots. I'd had a crush on Tom Brady too, and I couldn't wait to tease Eric about it a little. I figured that it would provoke some intense "half-time activities" for my husband and me―during which I knew Eric would show me just how superior to Tom Brady he was.

Since I'd gotten back, there had also been several "fishing nights" as Hunter liked to call them. Pam liked to call them "opportunities to use Eric's credit card." Either way, it had been fun to spend time with both of the groups which had formed. Plus, Hunter absolutely loved fishing with his daddy, his uncle Jason, etc. Terry Bellefleur brought Coby over for most fishing nights, and Sam usually came too. After her first trip out with those of us who chose shopping over fishing, little Emma had declared herself a "fisherwoman." I smiled, knowing that part of her choice had been dictated by her desire to be close to Hunter.

Eric and I had also hung out with Duncan and Batanya quite a bit. It turned out that the Britlingen was quite "fun" when she was off duty—if a bruising, saccharin sense of humor could be considered fun. Luckily, both Eric and I thought it could, and Duncan was obviously head over heels for her. In fact, the snarkier Batanya was, the more he seemed to like her.

In addition, Eric and I had gone to visit Amelia and Tray, who was still working to recover the full usage of his arm, a few times. Eric, Hunter, and I had also had several dinners over at Jason and Jessica's place. Jesus, Lafayette, Miranda, and Jarod would often build fires and hang out at night, and Eric and I—as well as Hunter, if it wasn't past his bedtime—usually joined them to chat for at least part of the night. Also, we'd had Niall and Claude over quite a bit, and Claude was keeping up his Sunday visits since we all thought it was prudent for Eric to keep "popping" to and from Fangtasia. Plus, Claude enjoyed working with human plants quite a bit and I liked having my tanu around.

Indeed—we'd been very busy with a lot of family commitments and reconnecting, and I'd enjoyed every single of them, but when Eric had suggested that we spend a couple of nights at the cabin, I'd jumped at the chance to be truly alone with my mate.

In fact, I'd leaped at it.

After Pam had teased us relentlessly about the noise we made the night that Eric and I returned from defeating Russell, we had Jesus put up a privacy spell around our room and bathroom. Or rather, I'd _insisted_ on the spell. My Viking liked the idea of all the supernatural ears in our house being able to hear him "claiming" me. But when I reminded him that we also had our son's ears to consider, he relented. I—for one—was glad to have the privacy.

It meant that I didn't have to be self-conscious when I wanted to be a little "loud" during sex. And Eric seemed to have the gift of making me want to be loud quite a bit.

We did, therefore, have a lot of privacy in our home when we wanted it, but there was something about the idea of coming to the cabin―so that we could talk about everything we needed to talk about without worrying about anyone or anything else—that was appealing to both of us. The cabin had always been a kind of sanctuary for us, and it was heaven to be there with my mate.

And I could tell that Eric was already much more relaxed as well.

Earlier that evening, we'd spent a couple of hours with Hunter and then—with his blessing for what he so sweetly called our "play-date"—we'd packed our bags and taken off. Barring emergency, we planned to return to the _ætt land_ a couple of hours after dark the night after tomorrow. So that gave us the better part of two more nights to just focus on each other. And that also meant that I'd have two more nights to have my way with my husband.

I thought briefly about letting the robe slip off my shoulders—accidentally, of course. But I decided that it would be better to get our conversation over with—or at least started. Then, I would tempt him to pillage me again.

How could I not?

* * *

_**A/N:**_ I've been so happy about the response this story has gotten so far! It's great to hear from so many of you. I've "missed" you since _CBTM_ ended. I hope that you are still enjoying this little Interlude from the _CBTM_ universe.

I'm still working on a proper sequel for _B&F _and _CBTM_, but I got stuck, so I thought I'd focus on this for a while. Plus, real life is stressful with the end of the semester coming up; thus, a relatively angst-free love-fest seemed to be just the ticket! After all the punishment I put this Eric and Sookie through, I owed it to them. (And to readers.)

I'm also still working on _Inner_, so if you are a fan of that one, don't give up hope on it. Just too many things to do for one little girl, and I tend to work on what is "talking" to me at the time.

Again, thanks for reading! I probably won't have the next chapter up until the day after tomorrow, but since this one was longer than the first, I won't feel too bad. ;)

Kat


	3. Chapter 3: On the List

**Chapter 3: On the List**

_**EPOV**_

"I've got it right here," Sookie said as she pulled the list of topics out of the pocket of her discarded jean shorts.

I smiled. "Floor or couch?" I asked. "Or bed?" I asked more suggestively, having felt a twinge of lust from her only moments before.

She gave me a mock glare. "Aren't you the one who said that we should talk _first_? And now you're tryin' to tempt me," she chided.

"You tempted me first," I challenged. "Or was that someone else's ass I saw swaying."

"_I_ never promised not to tempt _you_," she returned with a self-satisfied smile.

"Floor or couch then?" I asked with a grin that felt a little lop-sided—as if I were a teenaged boy. I was continuously amazed by both the feelings and the facial expressions my mate drew from me. Most of the time, I felt as giddy as a pimply-faced teen in love for the first time. Granted, I _was_ in love for the first time, but I was no teen. And I'd never had a fucking pimple—not even in my human life.

Of course, I didn't want to give up any of the new sensations my wife elicited from me. Each one felt precious. Each one was a gift.

_She_ was my gift.

"I'm comfy right here," Sookie said, patting the floor next to her.

I nodded and then reached for the large bag we'd brought with us. I knew that Sookie had brought a bottle of wine that she wanted to enjoy while we talked, and I'd seen Lafayette fix her a snack.

"Wait!" she cried, pulling the bag away from me.

"Wait for what?" I quirked a brow as I realized my wife was definitely up to something. I looked down at the bag, which she seemed to be guarding now. It _had_ seemed quite heavy—come to think of it—a lot heavier than a couple of days' worth of clothing and a bottle of wine.

"Do you have a surprise for me in that bag? I love surprises, lover, especially yours."

My mind immediately went to something black and silky—no red and lacey—and lust surged through me.

"Down boy," she chastised with a giggle as she opened the bag just a little and carefully pulled out the wine bottle, a corkscrew, and a wine glass she'd packed. She also grabbed a Ziplock bag with some cheese and crackers in it. I'd brought over some other food provisions for her a couple of days before after Hunter had gone to sleep and while Sookie had been watching a chick-flick with Miranda, Thalia, Pam, and Batanya. Now _that_ was a group that even I was slightly afraid of.

"_If_ there is a surprise for you in here," she said saucily, "then you'd best keep your hands off."

I chuckled and reached out to take the bottle and corkscrew from her. I knew that she was perfectly capable of opening the bottle herself, but she knew that I liked to do it for her. It was a tiny thing, but I enjoyed taking care of her, and she was learning to let me do it—sometimes.

As Sookie made sure the bag was zipped up tight and out my line of sight, I thought about the work she'd been doing for my queen.

About two weeks after Sookie had returned from the fairy realm, Jessica had mentioned in passing that Thalia was going to be interviewing some humans for positions in her three queendoms during the subsequent weeks.

Thalia—to her great credit—had not asked for Sookie to "read" the humans she was interviewing; in fact, she had never once hinted that Sookie should work for her. However, after Sookie and I had talked about it, my wife decided that she wanted to help Thalia—not because she was our queen or because she had helped to keep us safe in the past. No—I knew that my bonded wished to help Thalia because she was a friend.

So Sookie had asked Jessica when the first interview was and simply showed up for it.

Not needing to question why she was there, Thalia had stationed Sookie in a room off to the side so that she wouldn't be seen by the humans being interviewed. Knowing Thalia, that room had likely been made with Sookie in mind—so that my wife would be safe and comfortable in case Thalia ever did need her help. It was safe to say that my mate and my queen—though their acquaintance had been short overall—respected and even liked one another. It was also safe to say that the two worked well together.

The room Sookie was set up in was comfortably furnished—unlike the rest of Thalia's home—and had plenty of space for Sookie, as well as Bubba and Batanya, who'd both wanted to be her guards when she worked for the queen. It was already equipped with a state-of-the-art communication system that Molly had rigged up. If Sookie heard something that concerned her during an interview or if she had a question she wanted Thalia to ask the interviewee, all she had to do was speak into a headset.

That first night, my brilliant fucking wife discovered a Fellowship sympathizer and a spy for the court of the queen of New York. The next day, a check was messengered to Sookie. She'd thought about not accepting it, but then she reconsidered.

Sookie ended up putting half of the generous, though fair payment into a fund I'd started for Hunter when he'd come to live at the farmhouse. She put the other half into the account that I used to run our household. Sookie had felt proud of herself for earning her own money again. Of course, she knew that I had accumulated a lot of wealth over the years, but she still didn't really care about the amount of money I had. And she never considered not working or going to school or doing something else productive with her time. Sookie saw money as a means to an end; it would keep us secure throughout time, but that was no need to spend it in excess. And she definitely didn't see it as an excuse not to do something meaningful with her time.

I smiled. My wife and I were cut out of the same frugal cloth. Even when she'd been working at Merlotte's and living paycheck to paycheck, Sookie had always made sure to sock some money away for a "rainy day" or for her future. She still had that same mindset, except now her future had become much, much longer. She felt proud that she was contributing to our household and to our son's future as well. Moreover, she was happy that she was making sure Thalia was more secure.

After those first interviews, Thalia and Sookie seemed to reach an unspoken agreement. Sookie was emailed the times of upcoming interviews, which occurred once a week and always after Hunter's bedtime―usually on Sundays when I would be busy at Fangtasia. It was obvious that Thalia appreciated her access to Sookie's gift, but she did not treat Sookie like an asset or even a traditional employee. And it was even more obvious that my queen didn't intend to take any time away from my wife and myself. And I appreciated that fact greatly.

"What else is in that bag, lover?" I leered as she pushed the bag a few feet further from us.

"Be nice and _maybe_ you'll find out, Northman" she leered back, though there was a tiny blush on her face as well.

Gods, I loved her blushes.

"Talk _first_. Surprise _tomorrow_," she smirked.

"Tomorrow?" I pouted.

"Tomorrow," she giggled and held out her wine glass to me. I quickly filled it as she looked down at her list. After putting the bottle of wine on the coffee table, I got myself situated so that I was leaning against the couch with my knees drawn up a bit. Sookie scooted close to me, put her glass and snack on the coffee table as well, and settled herself against my raised knees.

We both sighed at the comfortable contact and stared at each other for a few minutes. I breathed in her scent and felt myself relaxing more than I'd done in a very long time. She was so beautiful and she was here—really here with me.

"Okay—what's first?" I asked. "I have more business with your body tonight."

She chuckled, blushed, and looked down at her list. "Lafayette and Jesus's wedding."

I smiled. Jesus had asked me to be his best man a few weeks before. Lafayette had asked for Tara and Sookie to be what he was calling his "groomsmaids." Jarod was going to join me as Jesus's other groomsman.

Sadly, the marriage legislation in Louisiana was not going to pass any time soon since several Congressmen were currently holding it "hostage" in committee. I'd done background checks on all of the legislation's major opponents. The ones who had skeletons in their closets—the kind that made their position on the bill hypocritical—had already been blackmailed to resign quietly if they did not want a scandal on their hands. However, the men fighting so vigorously against the legislation now were no worse than any other politician. Oh—they'd all accepted campaign donations from slightly unethical sources. But show me a politician who hadn't, especially in a state where the oil business was so prominent, and I'd show you someone who hadn't been elected. But they were otherwise good men; they simply held the opposite position from me and from those I loved.

I'd asked Miranda and then Tara to write the marriage legislation, which had been dubbed the Fair Marriage Bill, with one major goal in mind. I wanted to marry my mate according to human law. I'd gotten the idea to spearhead the legislation myself when Sookie had been in the fairy realm, and I'd hoped that it would be a gift to her when she got back. The fact that it would include couples like Jesus and Lafayette, as well as Weres and shifters when they made themselves known, had also become very important to me.

But to glamour or to threaten those who were currently fighting the bill would have crossed a line that I had promised myself I would not pass when I first asked Miranda to begin drafting a bill. And Sookie, as well as Jesus and Lafayette, had agreed. Plus, it would have looked too suspicious if all the opponents of the legislation were suddenly silent, and the government already feared vampire glamour to the point that they had threatened to revoke our citizenship if it were ever proven that vampires had glamoured lawmakers.

So the only thing that could be done was to wait for the Louisiana Congress to shift in their thinking. We had a lot of support on our side, and I knew it was just a matter of time before Sookie and I could legally wed in our state of residence. And—thankfully—we both planned to lead very long lives.

However, Jesus and Lafayette's case was different because Lafayette would have a human lifespan. Thus, Jesus and Lafayette had decided that they were going to go to Massachusetts to wed. Our family and close friends were all traveling to an estate I bought many years ago—just outside of Boston—for Thanksgiving, and they'd be wed the Saturday after the holiday.

"What about security for the wedding?" Sookie asked me in a practical tone. I kissed her cheek as my pride for her radiated through the bond. She truly was my partner.

"The ownership of the house has already been officially transferred to you, so that means the protection spell will apply there as well. And after seeing the pictures of the property, Lafayette wanted to get married on the estate, so we will not have to worry about securing another venue. The trees will still be lovely with fall colors, and apparently Lafayette has a 'vision' in mind," I chuckled.

Sookie laughed a little and nodded. "Yeah, Lala and Jesus showed me the pictures this afternoon, and the property is beautiful, but," she bit her lip and paused.

"But?" I asked as I caressed her shoulder comfortingly. I hated the anxiety I was getting from her.

"But won't it be too cold for Hunter outside?" she asked.

She got another kiss for that question. I loved that she thought first about the comfort of our son. It had been my first thought as well.

"We'll arrange for a covered space—probably a tent of some kind―and heaters can be used. Hunter _will_ be warm," I promised. "He is hoping to see snow, in fact."

Sookie smiled, even as she shivered a little. She was a woman of the sun and warmth. But then she smiled, and excitement entered the bond. "If there's snow, we'll have to make a snowman with Hunter. Oh! And snow angels too!"

I nodded and stroked her face gently. _She_ was my angel. "Hunter is hoping to go sledding as well." I chuckled as I remembered my distant past. "When I was a small child, my father allowed me and some other children to use the shields of the men to slide down a small hill near our village when the first snows came—before the extreme cold set in."

"That sounds like fun," Sookie said as she caressed my bare shoulder.

"Yes," I said remembering the glee with which I'd played with the other children.

"We never had enough snow for things like sledding," she said wistfully. "But it would have been nice to go with Tara and Lala." She laughed, "Even Jason."

I felt my brow crease a bit.

"What is it?" my mate asked with sudden concern at my change of mood.

"Emma," I answered.

"What about her?"

"Sam has informed me that he, Luna, and Emma are going to spend the holiday in Monroe with Emma's paternal grandparents. The grandmother was just diagnosed with cancer."

"Yeah. Luna told me," Sookie said, as realization hit her. "You're thinkin' about Hunter not havin' Emma there to play with—aren't you?"

I nodded. "Yes. Hunter would have more fun with Emma there," I said matter-of-factly.

She gave me a beautiful smile—made even more beautiful by the fact that I knew it was a look she only ever gave to me.

"You're such a good father, Eric." She leaned in to kiss my lips chastely. "Even though Emma cannot come this time, we'll take her and Hunter somewhere with snow later. Plus, Coby and Lisa are both coming to Massachusetts, so Hunter's gonna have kids he can play with."

I contemplated for a moment. "You are right, min kära. And we can plan a trip to Sweden in the early spring. The snow will still be deep on the farm, but the temperatures will not be bitter. I can take Hunter to the same hill I used to play on, and we will invite the Merlottes to come."

Sookie smiled with excitement. "That sounds wonderful. I can't wait to see where you grew up, and I know that Hunter'll be excited too."

"I will talk to Sam and Luna when we get back so that we can begin planning," I said, feeling better about the fact that Hunter's favorite companion would not be in Massachusetts with us. "Because of the Russell situation, they were not able to finish their honeymoon. Perhaps, the trip can be that to them. There is both an estate and a cottage on the farm now. They can have their privacy in the cottage."

"Sounds perfect," she said as she kissed my shoulder and then grabbed a piece of her cheese. "So where is everyone gonna stay when we're in Massachusetts? Is the house big enough for everyone?" she asked before popping the cheese into her mouth.

She moaned a little, and I gave her a warning look, which was answered by a little giggle from her. "Sorry," she said, even though I knew she wasn't. "It's just yummy."

I chuckled and answered her previous question. "The estate won't house everyone that is coming to the wedding, but there is a nearby vampire-safe hotel with excellent security. And Duncan and I both have good relationships with the King of Massachusetts, so we should be fine with both accommodations and security for the others. I chartered a plane to fly us all up there at night so the vampires in our group will be awake." I paused. "Plus, Hunter liked flying before, and I wanted to see him enjoy it again."

My wife smiled at me and took a sip of her wine before popping another piece of cheese into her mouth. I could tell that she didn't really mean for it to be an erotic act, but when she moaned again at the taste of the cheddar, my already stirring cock began to harden. I closed my eyes and willed my G.P.—as she'd taken to calling my cock—to take a break, but I knew it likely wouldn't cooperate for long, especially if she continued to make noises as she ate.

"Problems?" she teased with fake innocence.

"Nothing you could not solve, lover" I said suggestively.

Feeling my lust in the vampire bond, she gave me a sly grin, but—much to my disappointment—she went on with our discussion. "Well—the wedding planner that Miranda found for Lafayette and Jesus is gonna be flyin' in next week for an interview, and we'll quickly see if she means us any harm. Hopefully, she can give Lala everything he wants." Her lips curled up. "You're right. He definitely has a 'vision' in mind."

I grinned. "According to Jesus, _purple_ and _velvet_ are the most common words in Lafayette's vocabulary these days. However, I am already looking forward to feeling velvet against your skin, min älskare."

Hoping to derail the conversation I'd earlier been so insistent upon finishing before our "play-time," I dragged my fingers along her collar bone and shifted to let her feel my still-present erection so that she would know just how much I was looking forward to that particular treat.

Sadly, she didn't allow herself to get off topic.

"Who says it'll be _me_ in the velvet?"

I chuckled. "Oh—I am fully aware that I will be wearing it too." I leered. "I believe that I will look very good in purple velvet—don't you think?"

"You'd look good in pink spandex," she said under her breath.

I couldn't help but to laugh a little harder and to give her a kiss on the cheek. I loved her so fucking much that it shocked me at times!

"Do they still insist on paying for the wedding?" Sookie asked me.

I nodded. "The wedding—_yes_. But they are letting us cover the cost of the travel and their extra week in Boston."

"And Scott thinks he can have their surprise ready when they return?" Sookie asked mischievously.

I nodded. "Lafayette and Jesus finalized the plans for their new house with the architect earlier with week, but Cusmano has told them that he won't be able to get to anything beyond the foundation before the wedding."

"And they're really gonna be able to finish the whole house before they get back from their honeymoon?" Sookie asked.

I shrugged. "Yes—if the weather cooperates. The outside will be finished and all the plumbing and electricity; however, the interior will be waiting for them to design as they wish, except for," I paused.

"Except for what?" Sookie asked suspiciously.

I grinned. "Pam _insists_ that she's going to design and decorate one of the guestrooms for them so that they will have a place to stay as they work on the rest of the house."

"And we trust _Pam_ to choose something appropriate?" Sookie asked skeptically.

"Absolutely not," I shook my head and waggled my brow. "That's what will make it fun. _And_ they can always change things."

Chuckling and shaking her head, Sookie looked down at her list. "Okay—the next item is the marriage legislation itself and whether _we_ are gonna wait for it to pass before we get married."

I sighed. "I'm still scheduled to testify about it in a week, and now that you'll be with me, that might help." I paused, "But as you know, it seems pretty clear that it won't pass for at least a few more years. We just don't have the numbers right now. But we will keep fighting, Sookie."

I took hold of her hand and traced the lines of her palm.

"We _could_ have a Massachusetts wedding of our own," I said.

She played with the ring on my left hand—the ring that she'd had made for me after our pledging.

"I know," she said a little sadly. "But Louisiana is our home—where we're choosing to raise our son. And I have to believe that the good people in this state will eventually change the laws so that we can get married." She sighed. "Given the fact that you are a vampire and I'm hardly aging at all, we have time. I wanna try to wait them out for now."

I nodded. "Humanity _will_ eventually evolve," I reassured. "It always does. So we will continue to fight. And you are _already_ my wife—min kván—in all important ways."

"And you are min bóndi," she said, even as she seemed to come to an internal decision. "We'll revisit this topic each year—okay? And if either one of us loses patience, we'll go to Massachusetts and just do it."

I nodded. "Sounds good. Next topic?" I asked.

* * *

[_**A/N:**_ Thanks for the continued support and your kind words about this story! I'm glad you are enjoying this little vacation for this version of Eric and Sookie. Of course, we know from _Come Back to Me_ that Eric and Sookie are able to get married in Louisiana a few years after this conversation, but it was nice to get to imagine them deciding what they were going to do. I also wanted to give a more specific timeline for when Lafayette and Jesus got married. I have to say that it was nice to write a conversation that didn't include a discussion of how they were going to deal with some threat.

Since this chapter was ready a bit earlier than I'd thought it would be, I hope you will forgive me if I don't get the next one up until Sunday (maybe Monday). This weekend is going to be crazy with work, and I'll be wine tasting on Saturday for a friend's birthday party, so that complicates things too (deliciously).

Thanks again for reading! Y'all are the best!]


	4. Chapter 4: Consideration

**Chapter 4: Consideration**

_**SPOV**_

I looked down at the list and saw the next item on the agenda: "Sookie's Job?"

I sighed a little. Surprisingly, I had gotten a lot of satisfaction from using my telepathy to help Thalia during the last several weeks; however, I wanted more.

But, then again, now that Hunter was in our lives, I also wanted to be a "stay at home mother." I had taken over some of his home schooling from Miranda, and I loved doing that. Plus, I still wanted to get my own college education as I'd planned to do before I'd been taken to the fairy realm by Claudette. The week before, I'd taken my placement exams for Bossier City Community College, and I was planning to take three online courses and one class on campus during the spring semester.

Still, I wanted something else.

When I was in Faerie with Niall, Claude had told Eric about the residence he was building, which included homes for himself; Hadley and the baby, if she ever chose to move to Dùraig; and Eric, Hunter, and me. There was also the little school for hybrid telepaths that Katherine was going to run and which Claude had asked me to help with.

To tell the truth, the thought of helping fairy-human children gain control of their telepathy warmed my heart, but I hadn't yet made my final decision about whether I should work at the school. I knew that Eric would support whatever choice I made, but neither one of us wanted to spend time in different realms. In fact, when I'd taken Hunter to Dùraig to visit Hadley two weeks before, Eric and I had both been extremely nervous beforehand. We had decided that the situation would be less tense for Hunter if Eric didn't go along for that visit. And to make sure that Hunter didn't lose any of his nightly time with Eric—which is what Hunter had been most concerned about—we'd gone for a couple of hours in the early afternoon while Eric was asleep, taking Batanya with us. Hunter had insisted that Breeta stay home to watch over his daddy. Of course, Claude and Niall were in Dùraig too, so Hunter and I were well-protected.

I sighed as I looked at another item on the list: "Hunter—Fae school?". Regardless of whether or not I taught at the school in Dùraig, Eric and I had to decide if Hunter should attend. Hunter already had tremendous control over his telepathy, especially considering his age, but I wanted him to gain even more skill if possible. I never, _ever_ wanted him to have the kinds of problems that I had when I was growing up.

Plus, according to Niall, Hunter had some other fairy abilities, including the potential to wield light as I did. In fact, Niall had told Eric and me that Hunter's inherent gift to wield light was even stronger than mine—though mine had now reached its full potential because I'd received the "light of the ancestors" thing. I had to admit that I was glad that Hunter had that gift too. If he learned to use it, he could eventually defend himself or use the light to heal.

The only problem was that continuing to go to the fairy realm—even just to Dùraig—would likely awaken that gift inside of Hunter sooner rather than later. Otherwise, it would stay dormant in him—just as the gift had stayed dormant in me until I'd had Eric's blood. If the power was as inherently strong as Niall thought, Hunter would have to learn how to use it and to control it so that he didn't accidentally harm someone. I could only imagine the trees that I would have shot down during my own adolescence if I'd had the power to wield light at the time. Heck—Jason teased me so much when we were teens that he would have likely been blasted daily!

Niall had already asked Eric and me to consider allowing Hunter to train in Dùraig for a few hours each week. I sighed. That topic was also on our list.

Unfortunately, Niall had told us that Hunter didn't have the ability to produce "force fields" as I could. But he did inherit the gift of empathy from his mother. According to Niall, that gift was not as strong as Hunter's other two abilities, but it could be strengthened over time. I could already tell that Hunter seemed to be able to intuit things about the feelings of the people around him. Eric and I knew that being in Dùraig would help Hunter to develop all of his Fae gifts, and that was something we both wanted for him.

I sighed again. It was already too late for me and Eric to prevent Hunter from facing any pain because of his telepathy. Between the thoughts he'd had to hear from Remy Savoy and even Hadley, he'd had to endure too much already.

But what we were determined to do was to make sure that things would be as good as they could be for him from now on, and maybe I could help others do that too. When Hunter got older, I wanted him to be able to have his first kiss with a girl—likely Emma—without having to hear her thoughts as they did it. Because—let's face it—practically nobody does a great job on his or her first kiss (no matter what a certain Viking claimed). And I didn't want Hunter to have the added pressure of having to hear all about that! It wouldn't be fair to Emma either.

I wanted Hunter to be able to raise and lower his shields at will—without getting tired from doing it the way that I used to. If he wanted to go to regular school or college, I didn't want him to be bombarded by people's thoughts. In short, I simply wanted his options to be limitless. And—maybe most of all—I didn't want him to feel as if he were alone, and meeting other "mostly" human kids who also happened to be telepaths would be a good way for Hunter to know that he was perfectly "normal," given his heritage.

Maybe that was me projecting my own childhood wishes onto Hunter, but my gut told me that it would be good for Hunter to be around others like himself. I remembered how it felt to be so isolated and so alone. Of course, things were not the same for Hunter. Thanks to Eric, he was literally surrounded by various kinds of Supernaturals―including several telepaths since I was back and since Claude and Niall were often around. But that wasn't the same as having friends his own age who were like him.

I looked up at Eric, who was waiting patiently for me to get my thoughts together and to speak. He knew me so well; he knew exactly what I needed in that moment: the beautiful silence of his mind as I made up my own. Even the bond was still and calm in that moment. His love was there, as was his undying support for me. But it was quiet—peaceful like gentle waves rolling along in the ocean.

God, I loved him.

His eyes were holding the perfect mix of patience and curiosity. He clearly wanted to know what I was going to decide about the work in Dùraig, yet he wasn't going to push me to speak. I smiled at him and put down my wine so that I could brush his floppy bangs from his forehead. I brought my hand down to his cheek and sighed as he leaned into my touch as always. He closed his eyes for a moment and then turned his head to kiss my palm. Contentment and confidence now came in stronger waves from his end of our vampire bond, and I sighed as I enjoyed the feel of them.

I'd first told Eric about the opportunity to teach at Katherine's school a couple of days after I'd gotten home from the fairy realm. At that time—after so long of a separation—neither Eric nor I could imagine being apart for even a minute, so we'd tabled the discussion. Heck—after I first got back, it had been difficult for me to leave the bed during the daytime when Eric was asleep—even if it was just to go to the bathroom or to grab some food.

Thankfully, Hunter's need for me—and my need to connect with him—overrode my desire to be in the same room with Eric 24-7. But I still sat with him, watching over his sleep, as much as I could each day. Thankfully, Lafayette understood and would bring me up a food tray for breakfast since I tended to wake up before Hunter.

However, when my mate was awake, I felt like a barnacle as I clung to him—especially during the first week that I was back. Of course, he was clinging to me just as hard—maybe even harder. So thoughts of me going back to the fairy realm, even just for an hour, were too much for either of us to bear for the first couple of weeks.

But now, we were reestablishing a sense of normalcy; at our roots, both Eric and I were independent people. And we didn't need to be together every second in order to be "together." Still, when we were apart, I could feel a niggling fear from my mate—a fear that we might be separated again. So I made sure to text him every once in a while and to send him a steady stream of my love and comfort through the vampire bond.

Despite our independence, however, our bonds seemed to necessitate that we not be physically apart for long periods, but a few hours was usually no problem, and the fact that we could still feel each other's emotions, even if he was in Shreveport and I was in Bon Temps, definitely helped. Eric had resumed going to Fangtasia once a week for Area 5 business, and I'd gone to Thalia's house several times to help her out. During the days, I'd also started running my own errands again—always with Henry or Jarod in toe, of course. With Eric safely asleep at home, I felt more and more comfortable reconnecting with "daytime friends," as Hunter so sweetly called them. Hunter, in fact, often came with me on my errands now with Batanya closely shadowing him. We had even gone to Merlotte's several afternoons during the last few weeks so that he could hang out with Emma after school.

I chuckled aloud.

Eric raised an eyebrow at me in question.

"I was just thinking about yesterday at Merlotte's," I reported.

Eric smiled back. I'd told him all about the sight of two Britlingens hovering protectively around Hunter and Emma as they'd played checkers. Breeta had basically become Emma's daytime guard. Batanya—of course—remained Hunter's guard during the days. At night, Breeta watched over Hunter, and—with Sam and Luna's reluctant blessing—Eric had hired one of the most promising vampires in his retinue, a 50-year-old named Christopher, to watch over the Merlotte family.

At first, Sam had bristled at the idea. He and Eric had had a very long and very _loud_ discussion about it—thankfully out of the earshot of the kids, who were having a sleepover in Hunter's room. Sam had argued that as shifters, Luna and he were both able to protect little Emma just fine. He'd already reluctantly agreed to Breeta because he and Luna couldn't be with Emma when they were both working during the day. Plus, he didn't want to insult a Britlingen by turning down what was essentially free protection. However, he drew the line at a vampire guard, especially since he didn't want to owe Eric.

In turn, Eric had assured Sam that he'd never felt that Sam and Luna couldn't protect their family. In fact, Eric—always the smooth-talker—had told Sam that he would be doing him a favor by accepting Christopher as a nighttime guard. Christopher didn't have a lot of experience, but was the child of a close friend of Duncan's, who had met his final death while protecting the queen of Georgia from a Fellowship of the Sun attack. Duncan had taken the relatively young vampire under his wing, and he was looking to prove himself and carry on his maker's legacy as a respected guard. Eric had also confided in Sam that his main motivation for providing a guard was to allay Hunter's anxiety. In Hunter's mind, if he needed a guard, then Emma did too. It was simple to Hunter; he loved her and wanted to make sure that she was safe.

Still refusing the guard, Sam had decided that he needed to have a talk with the precocious Hunter—"to set him straight on some things."

I wasn't exactly sure what had transpired during the seven-year-old and thirty-seven-year-old's "meeting." I'd been tempted to go looking for the information in Hunter's mind, but I'd refrained from doing that. I was determined that I wasn't going to be that kind of mother to Hunter; he needed to trust me. And I needed him to know that he could.

All that Hunter had told me and Eric about the "meeting" was that Mr. Merlotte and he had come to what Hunter called "an understanding." And—the very next day—Christopher was on the job. Sam would just shake his head a little whenever he saw Hunter now—though there was always a smile in his eyes when he did it. After their meeting, Sam had taken to calling Hunter, "Little Northman," a nickname that Hunter had welcomed.

Eric and I figured that Hunter had told Sam how much he loved Emma and how much he simply wanted to make sure she was as safe as possible. It would have been difficult for Sam to refuse that kind of argument, especially if Hunter used what Eric had termed his "big eyes." Hunter often got an extra cookie or a longer bedtime story from his daddy when he used those.

I smiled again as I thought about the previous afternoon.

Two Britlingens together in Merlotte's had certainly been an intimidating sight, even to people who had no idea that they were "other." However, the funny part had been when Emma and Hunter explained the rules of checkers to the two fierce warriors. Later, when Batanya and Breeta took a turn to play, I thought there might be bloodshed between mother and daughter when the game came down to a stalemate.

Let's just say that Britlingens didn't seem familiar with the concept of a tie.

I spent another moment laughing at the memory of Hunter and Emma giving up on ever getting their game back as the two Britlingens played one tie game after another. The kids turned instead to Uno. It had been a fun, relaxing afternoon, and I'd enjoyed spending time with Luna, who had actually given me a lot of reassurance about some of the concerns I had over becoming a teacher. Oh—I knew that I wouldn't be teaching a traditional curriculum, but it was still nice to get some pointers.

Luna's advice was that I should always begin by giving my students a task that I knew they could do pretty easily―in order to build their confidence. Then, once they were confident and ready, I should challenge them with something to push their abilities to the next level—to make them strive for improvement. In that moment, I realized just what a great teacher my new friend was.

I looked again at Eric, still waiting patiently for me to get my thoughts together. I placed my hand gently on his arm.

"So," I started, "I talked to Claude, and the school is due to be opened in three weeks' time."

Eric's lip twitched up into a little smile. "And I can tell that you have made your choice about whether to help Katherine with it."

I smiled back. "I think so. I'm leaning in one direction, but I want your advice before I decide for sure."

He nodded and gestured for me to continue. I could feel his support through the bond and knew that I would have it no matter what I ultimately chose to do.

"Well, I really wanna teach those kids—to help them learn how to control their telepathy. You know what it was like for me when I was a kid," I paused.

Eric nodded and I felt him sending comfort through the vampire bond.

I smiled at him in thanks. "If I could help only one kid not to feel like I had to feel," I sighed and paused again. "Well—I think it would be a good thing."

Eric's tone was full of encouragement. "I think it would be a _very_ good thing, Sookie."

I sent my gratefulness into the vampire bond.

"Tell me more about the school," Eric requested, his interest clear.

"Well," I started, "so far, Katherine's found ten hybrid kids under the age of twelve that are also telepaths. She and Niall have approached their parents or guardians and have told them about the school. In all but two of the cases, one of the kids' parents is also a telepath, and all of those parents have already jumped at the chance to send their kids to the school. In fact, the telepathic parents are gonna be attending too—just to learn more about fairies and to develop their own shields. Niall's gonna help them. According to him, most of them have learned how to raise some kind of rudimentary protection from the thoughts of others—similar to my shields—but all of them live pretty isolated lives and are anxious to strengthen their defenses."

"What of the other two children—the ones who do not have a telepathic parent?" Eric inquired.

I sighed. "One of them is with foster parents, who are—understandably—a little apprehensive about the whole thing. In that case, the child is only three and has just started to show signs of being a telepath. The foster parents are freaked out, and the kid is having a hard time living with so many other kids in the house. Plus, the foster parents are having trouble accepting the fact that there are fairies in the world. Niall had to use his ability to influence their minds in order to make sure they wouldn't mention their new-found knowledge to others. He also had to influence them not to call the state to say that they couldn't keep the girl, which is what they had been planning to do before Niall even showed up."

Sighing again, I shook my head a little. Eric reached out to stroke my arm.

I brushed a tear from my eye and looked at my vampire. "It would be even more awful for her if she was sent to an orphanage. All those kids," my voice broke and I had to stop for a moment.

"But Niall and Katherine won't let that happen, min kära," he comforted.

I took a deep breath. "No. Katherine is planning to influence the caseworker to let her adopt the child so that she can raise her in Dùraig. Niall's setting up a fake residence and background for Katherine even now. She had wanted to have children with her husband, but that never happened, and I know she'd be a good mother. And as long as the child doesn't eat the light fruit or go into Faerie proper, she'll be able to choose whether or not to return to the human realm when she's older."

Eric continued to caress my arm lightly—comfortingly. "And the other child?" Eric asked.

"He's about Hunter's age and is being raised by his grandma." I smiled a little as I thought of Gran. "She's half Water Fae and half Earth Fae. She chose to leave Faerie a long time ago because of the prejudice she'd faced for being mixed. According to Niall, her child, who'd been a single mom, was one of those taken to Faerie by Mab. She's," I paused, "pregnant."

"Oh," Eric said, understanding the implications of my statement. That meant that she couldn't leave the fairy realm. It also meant that the unborn child had been conceived through rape.

I shook myself from that thought. "The grandmother has already helped her grandson to develop shields, but she's hoping that attending the school will give him the chance to make friends. Also—just like with Hunter and Hadley—as long as _they_ initiate the visits, the kid's mom will be able to see them in Dùraig. Who knows? Now that Mab is gone and there is peace, the grandma might decide to return to Faerie with her grandson, but Niall says that there is other family that she must consider too. From the sound of things, I think that the little boy and Hunter could become good friends—_if_ we decide to have Hunter attend the school too."

Eric and I sat in a comfortable silence for a few moments as we both contemplated that idea.

Eric got a faraway look in his eyes as a little smile settled onto his lips. He always got that smile on his face when he thought about his son, and that smile made me love him even more.

"How many days a week will the school be, min kära?" he asked.

"Just one," I answered. "Saturdays—so that the kids can still attend regular schools here—if that's what their parents wish. All but one of them is being home-schooled or is currently too young for school, but with training," I heard my voice trail off. "With training," I resumed, "they might be able to go to regular schools without the trouble that I had."

"And you _can_ help them," Eric stated confidently.

His level of confidence in me always floored me a little. I smiled at him even as I let out a big sigh.

"What is it?" Eric asked me.

"I don't like the thought of being in a different realm from you," I responded, "not even for one day a week―not even for a few hours."

Eric nodded. "I do not like it either, min kära. Would it be day or night that you would go?"

"Day," I whispered. "From ten in the morning to five or six."

Eric contemplated for a moment and then looked at me with concern. "_You_ would be the one to feel the separation—all while I slept. I would not have to feel it."

I gave him a little smile, nodded, and tried to act a little braver than I felt. "That's the good news. And I would still be able to feel you through the fairy bond; it's not like I can feel your emotions through the vampire bond when you're asleep anyway."

Of course, he felt the anxiety underlying my words. He always did. And he could tell that I was hiding something from him too. He always could.

In fact, I _had_ been hiding some information from Eric since I took Hunter to Dùraig to visit Hadley. However, to his credit, Eric hadn't asked me what I was hiding. He had been waiting for me to process things, but I knew that he was going to ask me now. That was okay, however, because I was ready to tell him about it now.

Eric brought his hand to my shoulder and rubbed a little. "There is something you have kept from me about when you and Hunter went to Dùraig for your visit," he stated. He didn't need to ask.

I nodded. "It's hard to explain, but I'll try."

He looked at me expectantly and encouragingly, and I felt both of those emotions from his side of the bond as well.

"When I was in Dùraig before—even when I was in Faerie itself with Niall—I couldn't feel our vampire bond at all. It was like it was just," I paused.

"Empty," Eric whispered throatily, his tone of voice indicating just how much he had been forced to suffer when I was gone. For him, it had been almost two years; for me, it had been just over a month. Without thinking, I reached out, stroked his chest, and flooded the bond with my love and comfort.

"Yes—empty," I agreed. "During my visit with Hunter, I was able to feel you through our fairy bond—just like I did before. But being in Dùraig this last time was really," I paused, "_uncomfortable_ for me and got worse the longer I was there."

"Physically uncomfortable?" Eric asked to clarify.

I nodded. "Yeah. It was different than before. Instead of the vampire bond feeling empty, it seemed to be pulling—stretching for you."

Eric contemplated for a moment. "That sounds like bonding sickness," he said with concern in his eyes. "But that should not have been possible since you left me for only a few hours. Plus, you went while I was still dead for the day, which should have prevented any problems."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you before," I said, feeling guilty about not doing so. "It's just that I didn't want you to worry until Niall could try to figure something out to stop it from happening again."

"You do not have to face burdens alone, my love," he gently reminded, though there was no anger or disappointment in the bond.

I sighed with relief. "You'd gone through too much already," I responded as I brushed my hand along his shoulder; the truth was that I felt responsible for a great deal of his suffering, and I didn't want to be responsible for any more. "Plus," I added quickly, "I wanted to see if Niall could explain why it happened. After all, it could have just been caused by my own anxiety at being away from you—like a little panic attack?"

He nodded slightly. "I am your helpmeet—just as you are mine," he said evenly. His statement was not meant to be an accusation. I knew that he wasn't trying to make me feel bad for hiding something from him, but I could also tell that he didn't like it. Still, his eyes shone with only love and concern.

I tried to keep my guilt from entering the bond, but I could tell from the look on Eric's face that he could feel it. Thankfully, he didn't mention it, and I felt myself relax again. Oh course, his comforting caresses along my collar bone helped. He always knew exactly what I needed—even if it were just a simple touch.

After a few moments, he asked, "Did Niall figure out what it was or—better yet—a way to stop it from happening again?"

* * *

[_**A/N:**_ Sorry that I have been MIA with this story! I hadn't intended to have long stretches between posts. However, finals week was a killer. And then my Internet decided to get all screwed up. (Actually, a storm blew a branch off of one of our trees—which my husband has been "getting around" to pruning for about six months.) Luckily, the only damage done was to the little box that housed the wiring for my wireless connection. It was "fixed" yesterday. Sadly, the fix has been going in and out, so let's hope it doesn't go out again. Sigh. Technology.

Thanks for all the reviews that I got for the last chapter of this story! I love to get your feedback, and I appreciate your reading!]


	5. Chapter 5: Ebb and Flow

**Chapter 5: Ebb and Flow**

_**EPOV**_

I had known that Sookie was hiding something as soon as she returned from Dùraig with Hunter. But I could also tell that she was trying to work out something in her head, and my wife still had the propensity to take her worries onto her own shoulders—especially if she felt that those worries affected only herself. I had not pushed her to tell me before because I already knew what had motivated her silence: guilt. She still felt unwarranted guilt for being away for all that time.

I asked gently, "Does Niall know what caused your pain while you were in Dùraig, min kära?"

She shrugged, and once more I felt her guilt sneak into the bond before she tried to shut that emotion out.

I had told Sookie many times that she had nothing to blame herself for, but I also knew from firsthand experience that she would have to overcome that guilt herself. I'd had to do the same when I'd blamed myself for her being taken to the fairy realm to begin with. It had been a painful process, but I was the better for having gone through it. Of course, I would be there beside her all the way, and I would help her as I could. That was, in fact, part of the reason why I had wanted to get away for a few nights. But I could only "tell" her that she was not to blame; she would have to be the one to "feel" the truth of that statement.

Seeing the self-doubt in her eyes, I was not about to add to her guilt by commenting on the fact that she'd not told me before now about the physical discomfort that she'd experienced while in Dùraig. I loved her too damned much for that.

Instead I asked a question for my own peace of mind. "You do not feel this kind of discomfort when I am at Fangtasia and you are in Bon Temps? Or when you are out for the day?"

She shook her head. "No. It was only when I was in Dùraig. Otherwise, I'm always able to feel you through our vampire bond, so I'm okay."

She sighed as if in relief. I too felt relief.

"What do you feel from our bonds when I sleep?" I asked, surprised that I'd never thought to ask her that question before.

She smiled and closed her eyes. A look of contentment settled onto her beautiful face. "The fairy bond always feels the same, whether you're awake or asleep. Even when I'm in Dùraig, it feels the same. It tells me that you are alive, that you are there for me, and that you are _mine_." She smiled wider and wider as her sentence went on, and as she opened her eyes, she was rewarded with my own smile at her declaration of ownership over me. I fucking loved it when she said things like that, and her wink told me that she _knew_ that I loved it.

Of course she did.

She continued, "The vampire bond doesn't contain your emotions when you sleep—not like it does when you're awake—but it feels pretty wonderful all the same."

My eyebrow rose in question as I waited for her to elaborate.

"When you're sleepin', it feels like the bond has been wrapped up in a soft, warm blanket. No," she corrected, "it feels like_ I_ have been wrapped up in a blanket, a blanket where your immediate emotions may be gone, but your love still remains."

Her fingers were unconsciously caressing my cheek, and I leaned into her touch like a cat. Gods know—with Sookie I often felt my chest reverberating with a contented purr—I mean _rumble_—as she touched me.

She leaned forward to kiss my lips tenderly—the kind of reflexive kiss that she often gave me when she was happy and close to me.

I fucking loved those kisses.

"Is that how it felt before Claudette took you to Faerie?" I asked softly, hating the fact that I had to speak that fairy's name.

"Kind of," she contemplated, "just not that strong."

I nodded. I too had felt our bonds growing in strength since Sookie had returned to me. And we had certainly exchanged quite a bit of blood since then. Both Sookie and I felt compelled almost nightly to take each other's blood; in fact, the desire to do so stirred within me even in that moment.

I could sense her conflict. Sookie wanted to work with the group of telepaths that Katherine and Niall had found. In fact, I could sense that she wanted it badly, but she was also afraid—probably that the pain she had felt would get worse.

I was afraid of the same thing.

I was just happy that she had told me of the discomfort she'd experienced in Dùraig _before_ she started her work so that I could prevent it from happening again.

I knew that Sookie would never ask me for what I was going to offer. It wasn't her way to imagine that others—even me—would step out of their way for her. She was always willing to go out of her way for others, but I'd never heard her ask for the same. It just wasn't her.

However—even if it took me the rest of eternity—I was determined to make sure that she understood that she never had to ask anything of me. There was nothing that I wouldn't do for her. As I saw it, the most important job that I had ever had in my existence was to anticipate what she needed—and what she _wanted_—just as she always did for me. And I intended to be damned good at that job.

I gave her a smile and enjoyed her touch as she absentmindedly drew lines up and down my arm with her fingertips.

"Well," I began, "it seems like the only logical plan is for me to travel with you to Dùraig when you go on Saturdays. The Fae sun neither harms me nor calls me to my rest, so we can travel there before sunrise here, and I will stay there until you leave each day. If I must rest, then I can do so in the home that Claude has made for us. We can also keep synthetic fairy blood there so that I can stay for as long as needed without your having to tax yourself or give me additional blood to keep me there."

Before I'd even completed my last sentence, Sookie was in my arms. Gratefulness and love—but mostly surprise—were surging through our vampire bond. I couldn't help the fact that my own smile widened. I loved being able to please my beloved. I loved to feel her happiness.

"You'd do that?" she asked with wonder in her voice.

I held my sigh at bay, knowing that—especially for her—our relationship was still very new. It was profound and wonderful, but also only a few months old from her perspective. And before that, she'd had only one relationship, a relationship with someone who lied to her from their very first interaction.

"You wouldn't mind?" she questioned.

I shook my head. "Of course I would not mind, min kära," I assured her, letting her feel my support for her in our vampire bond.

Her arms tightened around me even more. Her excitement over the prospect of helping other telepaths—especially children—learn to control their gift was palpable.

I increased my hold upon her too, though she was already wrapped into my arms and snuggly burrowed into my larger body. Ironically, having her against me like that made _me_ feel what I could only describe as "safe." One day, I hoped that Sookie would no longer feel any surprise when I showed her my care—when I made sure that she felt just as safe. I knew that she understood—on an intellectual level—that I would do anything for her. But she still had a difficult time accepting anyone's devotion of her. As a matter of fact, traveling with her to Dùraig would be of no hardship for me. In fact, it would allow me more time to be awake and in my bonded's presence, and I told her as much.

"I think this is a good thing, Sookie," I added. "This will be noble work for you—the kind that will feed your spirit. I can feel it in the bonds."

Her small hands gripped into my forearms as her emotions spilled from her eyes, but her tears were not from sadness.

I simply held her, grateful that I had such a wife with such a heart.

_**SPOV**_

I knew that I ought not to be surprised by my husband's willingness to support me in all my endeavors. But I was. I couldn't help myself—couldn't take his love for granted. The fact that Eric was so willing to accompany me to Dùraig so that I could teach was a huge deal to me. Only Gran had ever come close to giving me that kind of encouragement when I was younger, but hers was also always tinged with concern that my telepathy would hold me back. And—to be honest—my self-confidence still felt fragile in many ways. All of the negative thoughts that I had heard about myself throughout my life—beginning with the thoughts of my own mother—were impossible to "un-hear." But the man sitting in front of me made it easier to turn down the volume when those voices of the past tried to snake their way into my mind and undermine my confidence.

Looking into his eyes, I knew that he would spend as long as it took to help me to "un-hear" all the negativity. I reached up to stroke his cheek, realizing that I loved him more than I ever had before. That had seemed impossible, but—as always with him—it wasn't.

After all, the look on my vampire's face was one of pure confidence—not in himself, but in me. In us.

"So you don't mind if I go to Dùraig and help with the school?" I asked, needing to be sure.

"Of course I do not mind, woman," Eric reconfirmed playfully.

"Thank you," I said even though I knew that he could already feel my gratefulness through the bond. "You have a habit of helping me make every single one of my dreams come true, Mr. Northman," I whispered, feeling the emotion thick in my throat.

He leaned forward and kissed my shoulder. "Just doing my job, min kära," he said, his eyes glowing with sincerity.

I smiled, letting myself be truly happy about teaching in Dùraig for the first time. Knowing that Eric was supporting my choice—even to the point that he was willing to go with me so that I wouldn't be in any pain—made the whole thing feel even more exciting and took away my nervousness.

Feeling my anxiety leaving our bond, Eric sighed contentedly as he brought his forehead forward to rest against mine. "You will have to be sure to go to sleep earlier on those nights before you work so that you get enough rest."

He changed the angle of his face and kissed my cheek. I could feel his slight smile on my flesh.

"After all," he continued in a whisper, "it will be a school night."

I chuckled and pulled away from him a bit so that I could see that smile in his eyes too. "Thanks, _Dad_."

He tickled my side a little and then his expression grew more serious. "You know I worry for your health, min kära. You are sleeping only five hours a day as it is—sometimes less."

"I know," I said, feeling Eric's concern and devotion in the vampire bond. "But remember that I don't need as much sleep now—not since my Fae side has become stronger. I promise that I'm sleepin' as much as my body's tellin' me to sleep."

Eric sought out the truth in my eyes, nodded when he found it, and then threaded the long fingers of one of his hands with one of mine as I took another drink of wine.

"Plus," I said as I put the glass down, "as long as you are in Dùraig with me, I think that being near the pool will rejuvenate me even more. I needed even less sleep when I was there. I only slept as much as I did so that I could," I paused, "dream with you."

He gave me a devilish look and licked his lips a bit. "I did enjoy our shared dreams, lover."

I could feel myself blushing. I never could help myself from reddening when he looked at me like that.

He chuckled and kissed my shoulder lightly, but the worry was back in his eyes. "I know you well, my love. I know you will push yourself. You already stay awake until I sleep, and then you are up when Hunter awakens—or even before."

His hand brushed my cheek and I turned my head to kiss his palm. "Right now I feel well-rested, but if I need more sleep, you'll be able to tell in the bond—right?"

He nodded.

"If that happens, I promise to make a change—okay?"

He looked a little skeptical. "So you will not be stubborn about this issue?"

I punched his shoulder lightly. "When have I ever been stubborn?" I asked in mock affront.

"Never," he deadpanned.

I giggled and popped his arm again.

"So much abuse," he said with a smirk.

"Poor wittle vampire," I said in baby-talk.

He winked at me and then pulled me into his body so that I was lounging between his legs. I leaned against his cool chest, enjoying the respite from the warm evening.

As if reading my mind, he commented, "We can turn up the air conditioning if you wish."

"Nah, it's okay for now, especially since I have vampire-conditioning right now."

I enjoyed the rumble of his deep chuckle and the feel of his lips pressed against my temple.

I commented, "I still can't believe you have central heat and air in this place. I always wondered why since vampires aren't really affected by the temperature like humans are."

Eric nestled his nose into my hair and inhaled deeply before answering. "I admit that when I had this place built, I considered leaving it out, but once I decided to store many of my valuable books here, I knew that I would need a climate-control system."

"You _do_ have a lot of books," I remarked, looking around the room.

"And many more—though not as important to me as these—in other places. I have not accumulated much in my life, but I will admit to holding on to the books that I enjoyed or that I felt were important. In addition to keeping some in almost every house I have bought over the years, I have many in a storage facility in London. I would like to arrange for them to be brought to one of the safe houses in Shreveport so that we can go through them to see what we want to take to the _ætt land_. Others, we can store here. I will likely donate many of them to the British Library as well—when all is said and done. Many of them are quite old, and there are some manuscripts that the scholars would probably value greatly."

"You still want to move most of these to the house?" I asked gesturing toward the bookcases in the room.

I could feel him nodding behind me. "Now that you're home," he said in a whisper.

I sighed. Eric had put so many things on hold when I was in the fairy realm, and one of those things had been truly moving into our home after the renovations were complete. He'd so carefully made the _ætt land_ into a home for Hunter and so many others, but Eric had obviously waited for me to come back before making it into a _true_ home for himself. My heart had broken a little when I saw that the bookshelves in the office were empty and when I saw that the new closet in our bedroom was left unfilled. As far as I could tell, he'd not even moved many additional clothes to the house in the twenty months that I was gone. And I imagined that what had been added was likely Pam's doing.

I pulled his arms around me so that they settled on my stomach and then placed my own hands on top of his. "Now that I'm home," I whispered in response.

He inhaled again and leaned into my back a little, bringing us even closer together. We lounged against each other for several silent minutes, our hearts making gentle promises to each other through emotions that ebbed and flowed in the bond. Sometimes words just couldn't say enough.

* * *

[_**A/N:**_ Thanks for the responses to Chapter 4! I'm working on Chapter 6 even now, so I'm hoping I'll have it tomorrow.]


	6. Chapter 6: Legacy

**Chapter 6: Legacy**

_**SPOV**_

After a few minutes of comfortable and comforting silence, Eric spoke. "I find that I am actually looking forward to going with you to Dùraig each Saturday. I will be able to," he paused, "hang out with Claude a bit more."

I giggled a little. It always amused me when my thousand-year-old vampire used expressions like "hang out."

"And," I contemplated, "if we left before sunrise here each Saturday, then that would put us in the fairy realm for quite a bit of time each week so that the aging thing will continue to work in our favor. And, of course, if Niall is in Dùraig, you can 'hang out' with him too. Goodness knows, you two are thick as thieves these days." I winked at him and he smirked back at me; I could tell there was something behind that smirk, but decided to hold off on asking him about it for the moment. "And others have moved to Dùraig as well," I added. "It'll be—uh," I paused, "_interesting_ for them to meet a vampire."

He grinned mischievously. "Especially one who doesn't want to eat them."

I giggled and nodded before I felt my face fall a bit. "Hadley will probably be there sometimes too."

Eric tensed at the mention of my cousin, but then immediately schooled his features. I could sense his concern from our vampire bond, however. Hunter's last visit with Hadley had been "awkward" for him. Actually, "awkward" was an understatement. It had been quite trying for the little boy—the little boy that I already loved as if he were my own.

I just wished that Hadley had felt that same kind of maternal love for Hunter during our visit. More importantly, I wished that _Hunter_ would have felt it coming from her. Oh—it was clear that Hadley loved Hunter, but the love she had for her unborn child contained no reservations whatsoever. And it contrasted sharply to the affection she felt for Hunter.

To be fair, to Hadley, the timing of the visit was very different than it was for Hunter. From her point of view, she'd been inside of Faerie proper for less than a day since she'd seen her son. However, from Hunter's perspective, it had been more than six months since he'd last seen his mother.

Hadley had been busy setting up her new life during her short time away from Hunter. Thus, she really hadn't felt their separation much at all; she'd yet to miss her son. Of course, she had been happy to have her visit with Hunter, but it was clear that she was not nearly as affected by their time apart as Hunter had been.

And that had—clearly—affected Hunter.

In truth, seeing the effects of his mother's ambivalence to his absence on Hunter had hurt me more than the bonding sickness had. With Niall's help, I had worked to keep Hunter from inadvertently accessing Hadley's more troubling thoughts. And he was able to control his telepathy quite well most of the time, but—like me—his ability to shield and to keep out of others' minds was hindered if he became upset or if he was nervous. And he had been nervous to see his mother again. Thus, Hadley's surface thoughts were easily accessible by him.

Unfortunately, those surface thoughts—though innocent enough from Hadley's perspective—_did_ upset Hunter.

Rather than focusing fully on the beautiful child before her, Hadley had been distracted by the things that she needed to do in Faerie, and she was wondering how frequent Hunter's visits would seem to her. In a way, she was happy that they would occur so often from her point of view. On the other hand, she wondered if their frequency would interfere with the flow of the life she wanted to establish in Faerie. The two sides of that "argument" waged in Hadley for only a few moments before Niall and I were able to shut Hunter out of those thoughts, but he had heard enough.

Meanwhile, Hunter's thoughts were also a jumble. Despite his nerves, he'd been looking forward to seeing his mother again; after all, he'd been waiting for months because he and I needed to initiate the visit in order for the time thing to work out. However, he was also hurt by the fact that she was obviously distracted during the visit. To make matters worse, he still felt guilt over loving his daddy more than Hadley. And—from his subconscious mind—I felt additional guilt from him, though I didn't push to learn the source of it. Later, Niall told me telepathically that Hunter's additional guilt was stemming from the fact that he was beginning to see me, rather than Hadley, as his mother.

Talk about mixed feelings! On the one hand, I had already intuited that Hunter was beginning to see me that way, and the thought of it made me happier than I could say. On the other hand, it was clear that those feelings would bring Hunter some guilt and pain, and that was the last thing that I wanted. I vowed that I would do my best to make sure that Hunter knew it was okay to love both Hadley and me—that it was okay to think of himself as having two women who wanted to be his mom. He would never have to choose between us, and he needed to know that whatever he felt for Hadley and me would be "right."

With difficulty, I also asked Niall not to tell me anything else he picked up from the depths of Hunter's mind. Niall—and even Claude to a great extent—had no compunction about "over-hearing" people's thoughts, but I still believed that people deserved their privacy. Because of Hunter's empathy, he projected many of his emotions too, so I would be able to tell if he was in great distress over something. Only then would I be willing to delve into his mind. It was important to me that Hunter not be pushed to confront things that he was not ready to deal with yet—even if the telepaths in the family could pick things up from his head.

Hunter was like Eric in the way he handled something that was bothering him. They both needed to take the time to process their thoughts before speaking about them. And I knew that as soon as Hunter was ready to speak, he would go to his daddy—just as Eric always came to me when he was ready.

Even as Hunter was trying to process the litany of emotions he was feeling, I became more and more pissed off at Hadley during our short time in Dùraig. Really pissed! And the bonding sickness certainly didn't help to calm me down. I was furious that Hadley once again seemed to be prioritizing other things above her own child. And—given the fact that Claude had already built her a comfortable place where she could live in Dùraig—I was also pissed that Hadley didn't simply move back there so that the time difference would no longer be an issue. Why she wouldn't do that for Hunter—who was such a precious gift—made me seethe with anger, which I had to make a Herculean effort to shield from Hunter so that he wouldn't hear me thinking about throttling his mother!

Truth be told, when Hadley's thoughts turned to the new curtains she planned to make when Hunter was excitedly telling her about his sword practice and his school, I almost shook her! And seeing the deflated look on Hunter's face when he caught her disinterested thought made me want to slap some sense into her—literally.

Knowing that I was raging, Niall had motioned for me to leave the area for a while. Thankfully Claude had been there to prevent me for going back and causing my cousin bodily harm. How my tanu loved her so much was a mystery to me sometimes. Once I had calmed down, however, I realized that the physical pain I was feeling had caused my temper to flare more than it usually would have. Rationally, I knew that Hadley hadn't meant to hurt Hunter and that kicking her ass would only upset the little boy more. But the irrational part of me wanted to cause her pain—even for the inadvertent pain she'd caused to Hunter.

In the end, Hunter had enjoyed the visit to Dùraig to some extent, especially when Claude showed him some of the games that Fae children liked to play. I felt myself smiling as I remembered Hunter, Niall, and Claude playing a game that was a lot like horseshoes. Hunter _did_ have fun during that part of the visit, though it still pissed me off that it wasn't due to anything Hadley had done.

However, something shifted inside of Hunter that day. Something became more certain in his mind. He'd seen firsthand that his mother was doing okay, and it was almost as if that was the last thing Hunter had needed to know before he could fully embrace his life in Bon Temps—_without_ feeling so much guilt. After the short visit, Hunter had been more than ready to head for home—and to his Daddy. The two of them had gone to the workshop and had talked throughout much of the night, well past Hunter's bedtime. However, after that, Hunter no longer felt bad that he was so happy since he knew that his mom was happy too. Despite the problematic nature of that visit, a weight lifted off of his little shoulders that day.

Eric broke me out of my thoughts.

"I think that we should encourage Hunter to come with us when we travel to Dùraig," he commented. "I believe that there would be many benefits if he did, and I would feel better if he was with us."

I nodded in agreement. "Me too. He could meet other telepaths—kids—and Niall and Claude could work with him on his other gifts." I sighed. "And Hadley would know when he's due to visit each time, and since the timeframe will be parallel once we're there, she can choose when she wants to come during the twelve or so hours that we're there each week. Or every other week. Or every month. _If_ once a week is too much for _her_ schedule." I could hear my voice becoming more and more bitter.

Eric sighed, an irate expression briefly crossing his beautiful face. "Yes—that would make her thoughts less likely to be," he paused, "_self-_focused during her visits with our son."

I caressed Eric's arm to comfort him—as well as myself—and I could feel us both calming down through the vampire bond.

"Do you think that you'll have any trouble staying in Dùraig for that long of a time?" I asked, changing the subject a little.

Eric shook his head. "Your tanu has honored you, me, and Hunter by including a place for us in his own home, so if I am called to sleep at all, I will have a safe place to do so. And since I have been having regular doses of your blood," he leered and licked his lips, causing my lust to surge a bit, "it will be easier for me to stay there, especially if I supplement that with synthetic Fae blood. Of course, the manufacturing of our 'new and improved' version of fairy blood is already in the early stages, so a more potent version of what I used before will be readily available to me soon."

I shook my head fondly. "I still can't believe you convinced Niall to have a full-blooded fairy donate so that a 'new and improved' synthetic strain could be developed."

Eric grinned. "Niall suggested it."

"He did?" I asked with surprise, turning in his arms so that I was facing him.

He nodded. "And he donated the sample himself."

"What?" I asked, dumfounded by the notion.

"That was _his_ idea too," Eric shrugged.

"Really?" It seemed like I couldn't string more than one or two words together in that moment.

"Yes—once Niall and Claude finally accepted my offer to build them a cottage of their own on the _ætt land_ for when they are in this realm, Niall approached me with his idea for a new business venture here—something to help occupy his time."

I shook my head a little. I had been both happy and surprised when Niall told us that he'd decided not to go back into Faerie fulltime. He'd opted instead to make two new homes—one in Dùraig and one with us in the human realm. Hunter had been beyond ecstatic. And Niall's presence would likely mean that the A.P. would be visiting more often too; Eric—especially—was happy about that possibility.

Before Niall's announcement, I'd already reconciled myself to the idea that my great-grandfather would be going back into Faerie and that we would have to settle for occasional visits in Dùraig with him. But he'd explained that since Mab was dead, her followers had become disjointed; thus, a more moderate Water Fae faction was now in power. They were seeking peace with both the Sky Fae and the Earth Fae. And peace between the three remaining factions in Faerie meant that Niall would not be needed there as often.

Like Claude, Niall had the ability to go into Faerie for chunks of time without being pulled into its timeline. So as long as the peace was kept, he would be able to travel there often enough to oversee things but still keep to the human timetable, which is what he wanted to do for the time being—at least until Hunter reached adulthood.

In Dùraig, Niall was living with Claude for the time being and conducting meetings from his son's home, but his own new dwelling and several others were under construction around Claude's. Katherine too had decided to build there so that there would be no time lapse between herself and her students. I secretly hoped that her being in Dùraig would be extra incentive for Hadley to move there as well. Thinking of Katherine, I chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Eric asked.

"Oh—an interesting piece of gossip I heard from Claude the other day," I said.

"Do tell."

"It seems that Katherine is dating Barry," I reported.

"The bellhop from Dallas?" Eric grinned.

"Yep," I confirmed.

"Funny," Eric agreed.

I squared a look at him. "What's _funny_, Mr. Vampire, is you and Niall. And your business scheming!"

Eric grinned like the cat that ate the canary. My husband had been so excited about the new division of TruBlood he was developing that the only word to describe him was "cute." And Niall's hand was—apparently—in that pot even more than I had first thought.

"It is going to make us _very_ rich," he grinned.

"Like we need more money," I said, smacking his arm.

He shrugged as his grin widened. "We will be around for a long time, lover. And it is prudent to have reserves in place in case there are hard times."

I had to agree with that. "You're right," I relented.

"_Beautiful_ words," he teased, closing his eyes as if savoring them.

I couldn't hold back my giggle, and I smacked his arm again. "So it was Niall's idea to donate _his_ blood for your business venture?"

Eric confirmed this with a nod while I took another sip of wine. He refilled my glass when I set it back down, and I kissed his bare knee as his reward.

"What is Niall getting out of this?"

Eric smirked. "Fifty percent ownership."

"How did you get that by the board of directors of TruBlood?" I asked

"I didn't have to," Eric grinned broadly. "And it's not exactly a _division_ of TruBlood that we own either.

The vampire bond was full of mirth and surprise—his mirth and my surprise. "What did you do, Vampire?" I asked with a laugh.

"Well—as of this afternoon, that little subsidiary of TruBlood that I was negotiating for is now owned outright by me and Niall—with no remaining ties to TruBlood. You are looking at the owner of the other 50% of the company."

"Huh?" I asked, catching myself making an extremely inelegant sound but not caring. My knowledge of and interest in business was growing because Eric had so many business ventures, but I didn't think I'd ever understand all the ins and outs of what Eric did.

He gave me another little tickle. "Niall and I bought the research and development site that put together the synthetic fairy blood that I used to get to Dùraig. I traded all my stock in TruBlood for it, and then Niall reimbursed me for half of the value of that stock."

"How much of TruBlood did you own?" I asked, almost afraid to get the answer.

"Only nine percent," he said with a smirk.

"_Only_," I breathed out shaking my head. "So how much was that worth?"

"About 1.2 billion," he stated in an even voice.

"Billion with a 'B'?" I squeaked out.

He winked at me. "Indeed. The best thing is that I bought my stock for only a couple hundred thousand many decades ago. It has been a very lucrative investment, but forming a separate company will eventually generate even more profits; plus, it will help us to avoid questions about the new flavors of blood we will be developing."

I couldn't help the pride I felt for my husband in that moment. "You really are good at this business stuff—aren't you?"

Eric shrugged. "I enjoy the challenge of new things. Plus, _something_ had to be done to pay for Pam's wardrobe."

I giggled. "So—how did you manage to get the people at TruBlood to agree to sell you the research facility? Didn't they know that their scientists had developed a new 'flavor?'" I couldn't help myself from using air quotes.

"Easy," Eric reported, looking incredibly smug. "Since I glamoured the scientists at the research center not to know what they were working on for me, no one is the wiser. To the higher-ups, it seemed like the division I bought had been unsuccessful at improving the flavor of TruBlood." He continued more seriously. "So we now own _all_ of the experimental data produced at that site related to our little project."

"What about the people who worked there?" I asked, not liking the idea of anyone losing his or her job in this economy.

"The manager and many of the support staff have been transferred. The scientists and lab techs were let go by the TruBlood Corporation."

"But they're the ones that made what you needed," I said with concern.

"_Exactly_," Eric grinned. "That's why I've made them all offers so that the new company can keep them. No one will lose his or her job, min kära."

"Oh," I said with relief. "So—as of today—you and Niall are TruBlood's competitor?"

"That we are," Eric said with a smirk. "Of course, the board members at TruBlood think I'm an eccentric dumbass with no business acumen whatsoever. In other words, they think I'm fucking insane for trading my percentage of the business for what they see as a failed R & D department."

I giggled again. "Language, Mister," I chastised.

"Sorry," he said with mock apology. "They think I'm fuckin' off my rocker."

I giggled even louder at Eric's use of slang and an exaggerated Southern accent. "I can't believe you've done all this in five weeks!"

"Oh―I've been positioning to take over that particular site since they first produced the synthetic fairy blood—both to make sure that the source of the previous strain—Jason's blood—was kept under wraps and to make sure that _we_ would be the ones to get richer if it became viable to mass produce the new synthetic blood."

I was still a little floored, but very grateful to know that nobody would be able to trace the experimental strain to Jason. "Why didn't you tell me about all this before?"

"You aren't the only one who likes to surprise their mate," he gestured toward the bag we'd brought—the one that contained the surprise I had brought for him for the next night.

"And," he said with a mischievous glint in his eyes, "there's more."

I chuckled at his excitement and leaned in to place a kiss on his shoulder. "Then tell me the '_more_,' Vampire."

* * *

[_**A/N:**_ I hope that you are still enjoying this little story. I know that there is not a lot of the "usual" angst and action, so I appreciate your reading! Thanks for the kind words many of you have shared with me about this story. I want you to know that I appreciate all your reviews even though I haven't been able to respond to them all. The next chapter, which I hope will be ready tomorrow, will stick with Sookie's point of view, but after that, we'll return to Eric for a bit.]


	7. Chapter 7: The More, Part 1

**Chapter 7: The More, Part 1  
**

_**SPOV**_

"_And," he said with a mischievous glint in his eyes, "there's more." _

_ I chuckled at his excitement and leaned in to place a kiss on his shoulder. "Then tell me the 'more,' Vampire."_

"Well," Eric said, getting the same look in his eyes as Hunter did when he was talking about something that excited him, "Niall and I are planning to move the research and development center from Baton Rouge to Shreveport. I already own a building that can be easily converted into a much better lab than the one that is currently in place, and the new space will be easier to secure too. Also, we're going to build a manufacturing plant between Bon Temps and Shreveport. We'll have to develop equipment to make our product, but given the fact that I used to be part-owner of TruBlood and took many, _many_ tours of the various production plants over the years," he said with a wicked grin, "and given the fact that I have a _very_ good memory and may have _borrowed_ some plans showing the inner workings of the machinery, developing the manufacturing equipment to mass produce the product will not be a problem."

"Borrowed," I snickered under my breath.

"Indeed," he replied with his signature smirk before continuing. "Meanwhile, with Niall's blood, our scientists will be able to synthesize something _very_ tasty." His smirk got impossibly more mischievous. "Pam has, of course, volunteered to be the company taste-tester."

I laughed at that, even as I shook my head at both Eric and my great-grandfather.

"I project that we will be able to produce our first batch for sale by the end of next year," Eric reported with a look of pride on his face. "Our blood will be marketed at a higher price than TruBlood. That way we can avoid direct competition with them for a while, but we will still turn an excellent profit once the superior taste of our synthetic blood becomes well-known." Another smirk flashed across his face. "Guess who is going to run the manufacturing plant for us?"

"Duncan?"

"Nope." His expression was both triumphant and impish. "Jason!"

"What?" I asked, thinking briefly about how irresponsible Jason used to be. "He's quitting the police force?"

Eric nodded and then stroked my cheek tenderly. "Niall and I wanted this to be a _family_ business, and Jason likes the idea of being involved in it. Niall asked him a few days ago, and Jason told him 'yes' just today."

I smiled. I liked the idea of a family business too, but I had some doubts about whether Jason could pull it off. It was so unlike anything he'd ever done before. "Can Jason do it? I mean—he ran the road crew, and he's a good policeman, but overseeing a whole warehouse?"

Eric looked confident. "We're getting him some help. A Were named Ken Vernon will be training Jason and then staying on until your brother is able to run things himself."

I motioned for him to tell me more.

"I met Ken about forty years ago and I trust him. Well," he grinned boyishly, "I didn't _really_ trust him at first, but he has more than proven himself over the years."

I laughed at that. Eric was definitely cautious, but that was why he'd lived so long.

Eric continued, "I was introduced to Ken by Tray's father. Ken became my Were contact when I needed daytime security in New Orleans." He sighed. "I always made sure that I had some people of my own to guard me when I had to spend the day there. My interactions with the queen were not always as rocky as they were in the last years of her un-death, but I never trusted her fully with my safety."

"Good instincts," I mumbled. From what I knew of Sophie-Anne Leclerq, she would not have been above staking one of her own sheriffs in the back. "So this Ken protected you?"

Eric nodded. "Yes, he is an important member—now an elder—of Area 1's pack and quite strong. He could have been packmaster, but he peacefully deferred to another who had more ambition for that role. Still—from what I hear—Ken is consulted by the current Alpha on all major pack issues. He and others that he hand-picked served at my daytime guards in New Orleans for years. And then his sons took over."

"Why would he be willing to move to Area 5 then?" I asked.

I felt a brief flash of sadness from Eric's side of the bond, though his expression remained steady. "Both of Ken's sons were police officers in New Orleans. One of them died during Hurricane Katrina when he was trying to save a Were family that had become trapped during the storm. The other son was injured, but pulled through." He sighed. "The very next day, the youngest of Ken's three daughters and her husband died in a car wreck when she was trying to get to the hospital where her brothers had been flown. Their child, who was less than a year old at the time, was also in the car. Ken and his wife took in the infant. As you can imagine, he's had a difficult time staying strong for his wife and remaining children and grandchildren."

"Oh my God," I gasped, feeling sorrow for the man who had protected my husband for so many years.

"To make things even more difficult for Ken, the plant where he was a foreman was flooded when the levees broke and was closed down permanently. Since then, he's had a difficult time finding work that is comparable to what he had before. Ken is almost sixty-five, and had wanted to retire soon, but he lost a lot of his nest-egg after Katrina. Out of necessity, he's been drifting from one short-term job to the next; however, his age has caused many companies not to hire him on a permanent basis. Of course, he's a Were, so sixty-five to him is not the same as it would be to a human. Niall and I are offering him a good salary with a pension, and he's signed a three-year contract with us, which should be plenty of time for Jason to get a handle on things. After that, we could find Ken another position if he still wished to work. By then, we may even be ready to open a second warehouse—if my projections are correct."

"What about Ken's pack?" I asked. "You said he was an elder in it?"

Eric nodded. "His remaining son, who now works for Rasul, will be staying in New Orleans and will step into his father's place." He sighed. "Ken is going to move to Bon Temps, and Tray is welcoming him into the Longtooth Pack. Ken thinks it will be good for his wife to get away from New Orleans at least for the time being, and his two remaining daughters, who are both married to Weres as well, have decided to move here and join Tray's pack too. One of his daughters is an accountant, and Niall and I are going to employ her at the R&D facility. Ken's other daughter and her husband were both detectives in New Orleans, and they have agreed to run the security for both the R&D facility and the plant. The other husband coaches baseball and will work for the school in Bon Temps."

"But Bon Temps doesn't have a baseball team," I remarked, even as I squeezed my husband's hand in appreciation for all he was doing to take care of Ken's family.

"I expect they will after the donation we make to the school," Eric said with a crooked smile.

"Eric?" I asked.

"What?" he replied innocently. "Coby enjoys playing Little League and will likely wish to be on a school team one day, and with relatively little money, a program can be started. Plus, Sam has informed me that Luna has informed him that the computers at the schools are ancient by today's standards." Eric was almost pouting at that thought. In his world, computers became 'ancient' almost as soon as they'd been unpacked from the box. "Plus," he continued, "Emma is deserving of an excellent education, as are the children of our associates. Ken's son-in-law will be taken care of as well. And," his devilish grin was back, "I will look like an upstanding citizen—for a change."

I giggled at the way he'd puffed up his chest at those words and smacked him playfully, causing him to "deflate" dramatically. I grinned at him. What he looked like to me was a good man.

_My_ good man.

"Do you think that Hunter would enjoy Little League?" Eric asked. "I was always reticent about letting him participate in activities outside the _ætt land_ while threats were looming over us, but now that Russell and Mab are gone, it might be good for him to do things like Little League. And you could be with him when I am not, so I know he would be safe. And I know from Terry that some of the Little League games are in the evenings, so I could watch him play at times."

I smiled at the idea of Eric and me in the stands, watching Hunter play baseball—just like any other family. "I think he'd love it," I said, feeling my cheeks burning from my wide grin. "But how would we keep Batanya from running the bases with him?"

Eric chuckled. "_Hunter_ would have to order her to stand down."

I nodded in agreement.

We stared at each other for a few moments, my pride and love for my mate surging through the vampire bond. From the outside, people thought Eric was cold-hearted. And he had fostered that image for a thousand years so that he would stay safe. But he was anything but cold-hearted to the people who earned his respect and trust. For them, he would do anything.

I stroked his cheek affectionately. "I'm still surprised that Jason's gonna quit bein' a policeman. I thought he loved bein' on the force," I commented.

Eric ran his hand through my hair, before absentmindedly playing with one of my curls. "He does. But he hates having to work so many nights. He likes the idea of having a set schedule with holidays off. And we will—of course—let him decide on the shift times at the plant so that he can spend more time with Jessica." Eric paused. "In truth, Jason _was_ nervous about running a plant, but after he heard about Ken, he felt better about it. I have no doubt that Jason will do well. Do not tell him I told you this, but he has a good deal of intelligence―when he tries." He smiled and ran his fingertips along my arm, causing goose bumps to jump to attention.

I shivered a little from my husband's touch and from the intensity that had entered his eyes.

"It will truly be a _family_ business, min kära—something that will be a legacy to Hunter from his kin in both realms. This is for our son as much as it is for me or for your great-grandfather. No," he corrected, "it is _more_ for Hunter."

I felt a tear rising in my eye. "You and Niall are too much."

Eric brushed my tear away and raised it to his lips. He'd never done that before. With fascination, I watched him close his eyes as he tasted my tear.

"Many vampires enjoy the taste of human tears almost as much as blood," he said with his eyes still closed.

"Oh?" I couldn't help but to chuckle a little. "But this is the first time you've ever tasted mine like that. And I've cried a whole heck of a lot around you."

A pained expression flashed across his handsome face as he opened his eyes. "Do not remind me, min kära. I have _never_ liked your tears."

I raised my hand to his cheek. "I know," I said quietly. "And that's why you've never tasted them before," I stated. I didn't need to ask.

He nodded.

"Why taste now?" I asked, my curiosity kicking in.

He smiled a little. "I have finally reconciled myself to the fact that you are going to cry, min kära—whether I like it or not. It is part of your nature. You will cry when you are sad, and you will cry when you are happy, and you will cry when something touches your beautiful heart." He sighed. "I intend to do my best to ensure that you do not cry the sad tears. And," he chuckled, "I intend to do my best to welcome the other kinds."

I smiled. "So your tasting them is 'welcoming' them?"

He chuckled again, this time the smile causing his eyes to crinkle in the way that I loved.

"I was curious about what they would taste like," he admitted a little sheepishly.

"And?" I asked. "What _do_ they taste like?"

"Love," he said simply, his expression causing my heart to melt a little. I put my wine glass down and leaned in to kiss my mate—to show him more of the love that he'd tasted in my tears.

* * *

[_**A/N:**_ Hello all! Thanks to everyone who wrote in with a review for the last chapter! I appreciate your taking the time to read and give me feedback!

So, I have good and bad news.

Good news: I am almost done editing the next chapter and will hopefully be posting it tomorrow.

Bad news: On Thursday (tomorrow), I am going to visit my family for the holidays. And I will be gone for a week, so that means that I likely won't have anything for you during that time since I'm not planning to take my laptop. But this is good too b/c I haven't been able to see my mom or brothers in two years almost! (Money shortages prevented me from traveling to see them last year.) I'm so excited. I will try to get some more editing done today so that I can at least give you Chapter 8 before I go.]


	8. Chapter 8: The More, Part 2

**Chapter 8: The More, Part 2**

**_SPOV_**

Eric and I kissed unhurriedly for a while as contentment swelled inside the vampire bond.

When I finally broke our kisses to catch my breath, I commented, "You're a good man, Mr. Northman."

"Not everyone agrees," Eric laughed a little. "In fact, I think Sam is ready to stake me. He probably would if it weren't for the fact that Emma and Hunter are so close."

I looked at him with some confusion and concern. "Sam? Why would he wanna stake you? Well—why would he wanna do that anymore?"

Mirth flooded Eric's side of the vampire bond. "I'm _mostly_ stealing Terry from Sam so that he can be Jason's assistant foreman and train under Ken as well. For now, Terry is going to cut down to only a couple of shifts a week at Merlotte's, but he eventually wants to quit altogether—or work only on rare occasions—once Sam finds someone to replace him."

"I can see why Sam wants to stake you then," I said with a giggle. "First you stole Lala and now Terry."

Eric shrugged. "I," he paused, "like Terry, and he and Arlene are thinking about having more children. He wants a better-paying job. And a large manufacturing company nearby will boost the economy and bring in more people to the region, so Sam will win in the end too. Tray is in talks with a group of Weres in Michigan who want to relocate and mix bloodlines with the Shreveport pack. They would make up a lot of our security force for the new manufacturing plant. Plus, there are a lot of humans out of work in the area, and we would be able to hire at least twenty builders—both human and Were—to start and then others to work at the plant."

"My husband, the philanthropist," I grinned.

"The pragmatist," he corrected.

I rolled my eyes. "Wait," I asked as a sudden question struck me, "how the heck was Niall able to pay you for his half of the company already? How does he have human money, and why would he need more?"

Eric smirked. "The _last_ thing your great-grandfather needs is _more_ money."

"Huh?"

"When Niall was with Viola, the _ætt land_ was a working farm and quite profitable," Eric began.

"I know," I said. "Gran told me that the farm used to be quite grand before she married Grandpa Earl. But there were some hard years because of drought and then flooding, so the family had to sell off all of the farmland—a little at a time. Gran said it broke Grandpa Earl's heart to have to sell the last field."

"I am sure it did," Eric said with a faraway look in his eyes. "My human father taught me to treasure and to protect the land that sustained my village."

"But you've bought back most of my—_our_—family's land now," I smiled as I touched his chest. I let the bond tell him how grateful I was for that.

He placed his hand over mine. "Claude has asked to use some of the old farmland for his agricultural work if that is okay with you."

I smiled. "He asked me too. It'll be nice to see it be a working farm again—to see our family workin' it."

He leaned forward to kiss my forehead.

"And Emma wants to plant a field of flowers—oh—and cucumbers," I added with a smile.

Eric looked at me in question.

"She loves homemade pickles," I responded. "And flowers and other fresh vegetables aren't a bad idea either. We could help the kids plant them in the fertile soil near the creek and then let them sell anything that we don't use at the farmer's market."

Eric smiled. "Sounds like a plan. I'm sure Claude would help them. And Pam."

"Pam?" I asked with surprise.

He grinned. "Oh yes! I have years of stored up punishments that I have yet to give her. Seeing her pulling weeds will be a wonderful!" He closed his eyes as if savoring the thought of it. "I should make her wear her favorite shoes while she does it."

I popped his arm and giggled. "You wouldn't be _that_ cruel, would you?"

"Perhaps not," he relented, though I could see that the wheels were still turning in his head.

"So—you said Niall had a lot of money. How?" I asked, going back to our previous topic.

"With the profits from the farm during his years in this realm, Niall made some _modest_ investments in General Electric, Ford, and several oil companies that have gone on to make him a lot of money." Eric paused and chuckled. "I hate to admit it, but he was better at selecting his investments than even I was."

"So those 'modest' investments are not so modest anymore?" I laughed a little.

"They are not," Eric confirmed. "Let's just say that Niall was able to pay for his half of the company easily. And he also insists upon paying for the cost of his and Claude's cottage."

"Of course he would," I laughed again.

"_And_ he is footing the bill for twenty-five percent of the company's start-up costs."

"Of course he is," I said, sounding a little like a broken record.

"_And_ he's investing in Claude's work in this realm. _And_ he's helping out some of the hybrid families here too."

I chuckled. "Those must have been some pretty kick-ass investments."

Eric nodded in agreement as his face became serious. "Niall made those investments long ago with the intention of keeping his family here comfortable. He left them in a trust for your grandfather Earl; however, Earl's aunt and her husband, who took over raising the child when Niall had to return to Faerie to fight Mab, died in an accident before Earl had reached adulthood. Earl never knew about the stocks that would have made your family rich."

I gasped in surprise. "Really?"

Eric nodded. "Shortly after you returned from the fairy realm, Niall asked me to look into the matter. He had assumed that Earl had sold off the stocks over the years to help to maintain your family, and—given the fact that Niall had not spent much time in the human realm since Viola's death—he had no idea what their worth might be. Cataliades tracked them down, and they had been untouched by Earl. Neither of Earl's guardians had left a will, so your grandfather had no idea that the stocks were even there."

"So all those years that Gran struggled to pay the property taxes or had to patch up the old roof because we couldn't afford a new one," I stopped myself midsentence and shook my head.

Yes—having money might have made Gran more comfortable, and I would have done anything so that she could have had an easier time of things in the last decades of her life, but wealth wouldn't have changed her or made her any happier. She'd never cared much about possessions, and she'd taught Jason and me to appreciate that true wealth came from our family and friends. Sure—we'd lived a humble life, but I knew that I was a better person because of the way I grew up. From Gran, I learned what was important and to appreciate everything that I had. And those were the lessons that Eric and I wanted to teach Hunter too, despite the fact that Eric had so much money.

I smiled at my husband. I was proud of the fact that he'd not spoiled Hunter. He'd bought him just enough clothing―but not too much―and the only designer labels in his closet were from his sissy, and Eric had somehow managed to rein even Pam in so that she didn't spoil Hunter either. Of course, Eric had bought Hunter some toys; he had a veritable army of dinosaurs. But Hunter played with every toy he had. There weren't boxes and boxes of things he didn't use. In truth, Hunter seemed to prefer playing games, and he had about ten of those altogether, though many of them were old games that had already been around the house. Eric had bought Hunter things like a computer to help with his studies. But nothing had been in excess—except when it came to books. But, then again, Hunter loved to have stories read to him, and he was becoming an excellent reader himself.

I smiled. Each time Eric read Hunter a new story, the two of them would talk about whether Hunter had liked it or not, and Hunter was not shy about sharing his opinions. If Hunter didn't enjoy a book enough to want to read it again, he would either give it to Emma if he thought she'd like it or set it aside so that it could be donated to the school. Luna had told me that the elementary school's librarian was now one of Eric's biggest fans because of the box of books that arrived every few months.

Of course, now that I was back, I had introduced Hunter to the public library and to the concept of borrowing books.

I sighed and let my fingers roam over Eric's broad shoulders. On them, he had placed Hunter's care and well-being. And he was teaching Hunter to be such a good and strong boy. Hunter didn't ask for a lot of "things" as far as I had seen, though he enjoyed what he had. But the things that Hunter enjoyed most—such as helping Eric in the woodshop or practicing with his little wooden sword—cost nothing more than his father's time.

Of course, I hadn't been surprised at all by Eric's actions regarding Hunter. When I asked Eric to take care of him before Hadley and I were forced to go to Faerie, I'd had no doubt that he would do right by Hunter.

I smiled at my vampire. At heart, Eric was frugal, still the careful Viking his human father had taught him to be. He didn't live in excess even though he could have. He didn't have a closet full of clothing that he didn't wear, nor did he buy many things for himself. Sure—he kept up with the latest cell phones and laptops and traded for the newest technology about once every six months, but that didn't seem too excessive to me. He'd spent a lot of money for our home's renovation and to build other homes for our "family," but nothing was over the top or more than we needed. For every luxury item we had—like our amazing shower or our pool—there was something modest—like the simple, though comfortable chairs that Eric and Hunter had built or the bicycle that Hunter rode around the yard. Eric hadn't bought Hunter the most expensive bike in the world; he'd just gotten him a "normal" bike—a green one because it was Hunter's favorite color.

And—after a discussion we had a couple of days after I got back from the fairy realm—Eric had even promised not to spoil me too much. Yes—my pledging ring was expensive, as were the matching earrings he'd had made, but he knew me well enough not to try to drown me in expensive jewelry. The pendant that he'd carved with our entwined initials meant so much more to me than some flashy diamond necklace would have, and I found myself touching it even then.

As if he could read my thoughts, he placed his hand over mine and fiddled with the pendant as well for a few minutes as we just looked at each other silently—intently.

We'd been doing that a lot since I'd gotten home. I sighed. No, my Eric was not one to spoil me with _things_, but he was one to spoil me with his affection, and I loved him all the more for that.

Of course, there were a few "things" waiting for me when I got home—gifts that Eric had gotten for me when I was trapped inside Faerie. There was one for each birthday, for each Christmas, and for the one anniversary that I was not home—all of them bought or made when he had no idea when I would be returning. Thankfully, there were only five gifts waiting for me when I got home—all stacked neatly in our new walk-in closet, which had been otherwise bare upon my return. I took hold of his hand and held it against my heart as I thought about all the room that was in that closet, room that I was glad that he didn't have to fill with hundreds of unopened gifts as he waited decades or even centuries for me to return to him.

As a few tears slipped from my eyes, Eric brushed them away with his thumb, but this time he didn't taste them.

"What has you so sad, min kära?" he asked.

"All the room in the closet," I whispered answering him honestly. "And the gifts you would have put in there for me if I hadn't come back sooner."

I sniffled and tried to get hold of my tears before others fell.

"But you enjoyed the gifts I got you—did you not?" he asked with a little smile. I could tell that he was trying to lighten the mood I had fallen into.

In fact, I had enjoyed all of his presents to me. But more than that—I had enjoyed the _thought_ behind each gift. And the _care_. The day after I'd gotten back, I'd found them when I was moving Eric and my clothing into the new closet while he slept. I had—as Eric and Hunter had slept—curled up on that closet floor wrapped up in Gran's afghan, which now carried my husband's scent so strongly. I had looked at each of the beautifully wrapped packages and had cried my eyes out so that I wouldn't cry so much when I opened them.

After Hunter had gone to bed that night, I led Eric to the closet and we sat in there on the floor as I opened each gift in the order that he'd gotten them for me. The first was from the first Christmas I'd been gone. It was a small twig, which Eric had broken off from one of the peach trees he'd planted for us. The second gift had been for my birthday that year; it was a nifty computer/messenger bag that Eric thought I could use when I started college. The next gift was for the first anniversary of our pledging. Eric had made me a beautiful jewelry box, complete with a rendering of our entwined initials on the underside of the lid. For the second Christmas that I was gone, he'd gotten me the most extravagant gift of the ones he'd given me. It was an antique locket, made in Sweden in about 1900, and it took my breath away. Its chain and casing were white gold, but the body of the locket was made of rich royal blue enamels. Underneath the blue was an intricately engraved design that looked like a starburst. But it was what I found inside the locket that had brought tears to my eyes. It held a lock of Hunter's hair and a tiny picture of him and Eric as they'd sat in their chair together.

Given the age of the beautiful piece of jewelry, I'd decided that it would reside in the jewelry box most of the time, but I intended to wear it at family get-togethers. I loved the thought of having a symbol of my two boys close to my heart.

The last birthday present had been something that Eric had made for us after his visit to Dùraig. It was a beautifully carved box that he'd designed to hold the two daggers that had belonged to Britomart and Artegal so long ago. On the underside of the lid, it had Eric and my initials carved, just as they'd been on the jewelry box. On the top of the lid were the initials "B" and "A" to symbolize the couple who had originally bonded with the daggers: Britomart and Artegal.

The box held only one of the daggers right now, and part of the reason we'd come to the cabin was to "reunite" it with the dagger that Godric had passed along to Eric.

I pulled Eric's hand to my lips and kissed his palm. "It must have been a bit of a shock to Niall when he found out that he was so wealthy in this realm," I remarked.

Eric smiled and kissed my hand in return. "He was regretful that the wealth was not enjoyed by Earl and Adele or their children, but now I think he just wants to use it to build a legacy for Hunter and his family, as well as Jason and his family."

I smiled. "I think that's pretty wonderful of him."

Eric nodded in agreement even as a wicked grin appeared on his face.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I have not yet told you the name that Niall has picked for our new company."

"What's the name?" I asked, taking another sip of my wine.

Eric smirked. "You know Niall. He likes the idea that the first product we produce will be based on _his_ blood—even though hardly anyone else will know about that. He thinks it's amusing. He also likes the idea that I will oversee the company as a whole, while Jason will run the plant. And he hopes that Hunter will one day wish to be involved in the business. He has named the company RBL."

"RBL?"

"It's short for _Royal_ blood line."

I snorted, which caused mirth to fill the bond from Eric's end. "So Niall's making an inside joke with the name."

"_Arrogantly_ so," Eric added with a chuckle.

We both shared a laugh at that thought.

* * *

[_**A/N:**_ Well—I got this chapter finished for you! I wanted to thank you all for your messages—both about the last chapter and the PM's that I've been getting from many of you, telling me how much my stories have meant to you this last year. It warms my heart that many of you used my stories as an aid through stresses or hard times. It makes me smile to imagine my stories taking your mind away from sickness or work. But as much of a help as my stories may have been to you, you have been even more of a blessing to me. Your kind words and your support are gifts to me (gifts that I don't have to wait until Christmas to open). You all have made me want to be a better writer, and you have spurred me to write more, which has made my life better.

I will be back and posting more of this story around the 29th or 30th, but I wanted you to know that when I think of the gifts that I've had throughout the year, you all will be at the top of the list.

I know I have readers from all over the world and I have no idea what holidays—if any—you celebrate around this time of year. However, if you do celebrate a holiday, I hope it is blessed. And if not, have an awesome week!

XOXO,

_**KAT**_]


	9. Chapter 9: Maneuvers

**Chapter 9: Maneuvers**

_**previously...**_

"_I have not yet told you the name that Niall has picked for our new company."_

_ "What's the name?" I asked, taking another sip of my wine._

_ Eric smirked. "You know Niall. He likes the idea that the first product we produce will be based on his blood—even though hardly anyone else will know about that. He thinks it's amusing. He also likes the idea that I will oversee the company as a whole, while Jason will run the plant. And he hopes that Hunter will one day wish to be involved in the business. He has named the company RBL."_

_ "RBL?" _

_ "It's short for Royal blood line."_

_ I snorted, which caused mirth to fill the bond from Eric's end. "So Niall's making an inside joke with the name."_

_ "Arrogantly so," Eric added with a chuckle. _

_ We both shared a laugh at that thought. _

_**EPOV**_

I was glad that Sookie was not angry that I had not told her of my and Niall's business venture; I had wanted to wait until things were finalized. In truth—until just a few days before—I had been half-convinced that the deal would fall through.

The buyout of the research and development site had taken quite a bit of effort from both Niall and myself. Niall had met with the current CEO of TruBlood and then the Board of Directors the previous week. I sent him as an agent for NorthCorp, which was one of my many umbrella companies and the one I had used to buy my original stock in the company that eventually manufactured TruBlood.

Truth be told, it may have been easier for Niall and me to simply start our new company from square one, instead of trading my stock for the little subsidiary, but I had wanted to employ the scientists who had so quickly developed the synthetic strain using Jason's sample. And I also wanted to make sure that we had all of their data. Of course, I had long ago glamoured those scientists to think that they had been unsuccessful in their experiments with the new strain, but if an inspector or auditor had looked closely enough, he or she may have found a few suspicious things about the scientists' research. They had—after all—spent a hell of a lot of time on a project that summarily "failed." And that could have sent up some red flags with the executives.

Thus, Niall's meetings with the CEO and the board had been crucial, and—I have to admit—we "cheated" a little in order to get the upper hand in making the deal.

A telepath who was just as savvy in business as myself was—unquestionably—an excellent partner. I chuckled as I recalled the last line of _Casablanca_: "Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." I had—almost inexplicably—always been drawn to Niall in some way. It was odd, but being around him felt like having my human father back in my life. Moreover, seeing him operate in the business world was a true delight. Indeed, "a beautiful friendship" had been forged as we'd worked together.

Using several of my other companies―but keeping the NorthCorp name out of it―I had already made quite a few bids over the years to buy the R&D site, but all had been refused, even though I had offered prices that were over the market value of the site. Basically, Niall's initial task was to find out a price that the board members would accept. Then we planned to use another of my companies to make them an offer they would not refuse.

Niall posed as the new Vice President of Development for NorthCorp under the pretext of getting one of my monthly updates for TruBlood. My insistence on being informed monthly—instead of quarterly—about the goings-on in the company was just one of the many reasons why the CEO despised me, according to Niall's digging in the man's thoughts.

Frankly, the fact that the CEO found me a "nuisance" just pissed me off. I was the nuisance who had helped to make that asshole billions of fucking dollars!

As odd as it had always seemed to me, I was the only vampire who owned enough of the company to have a seat on the board. Of course, I had hired human CEOs over the years to be the "face" of NorthCorp, so the board members did not know my identity. Hell—they had no idea that vampires even existed until the AVL approached them six months before the Great Revelation! However, after that, they began to suspect that a vampire was actually in charge of NorthCorp. According to Niall, they had been trying to figure out whom, but they had been unsuccessful so far.

From the first moment I learned of the company that eventually developed TruBlood—which used to be called the Hayashi Corporation after its Japanese founder—I had been intrigued by the innovative science occurring within its research department. I had respected Denjiro Hayashi, the lead scientist and founder, and he had been a true visionary. I foresaw from the Hayashi Corporation's work with artificial organs and early genetic mapping that a blood substitute might eventually be possible. And I had subtly pushed Denjiro in that direction. Unfortunately, his children and then his grandchildren lacked both Denjiro's vision and his honor, but I'd been able to influence the choice of CEOs after Denjiro died—at least until the latest one was put into place six years before. He was what Jason would call a douchebag, but he had been efficient enough, so I had not pushed to have him removed.

During my inspections of the Hayashi and then TruBlood facilities over the years, I had always disguised myself as a human—something that I was actually rather good at—and I had pretended to be assistants of my own CEOs of NorthCorp. Disguising myself had, of course, been essential before the Great Revelation; the Hayashi Corporation certainly had never intended to be an avenue through which vampires could reveal themselves.

Through my CEOs, I had offered suggestions for improvements and ideas for growth—many of which had led to great profits for the Hayashi Corporation, both before and after the Great Revelation. Denjiro and then the other CEOs before the current one had always valued the input from NorthCorp, especially when it came to marketing.

What truly angered me was the fact that the current CEO had been meeting in secret with the other members of the Board of Directors for over a year, trying to figure out ways to get NorthCorp out of the picture. It seemed that the thought of working with a vampire—especially a vampire who had control of almost ten percent of the company—made them all uncomfortable. Oh—they were more than happy to make profits off of vampires, but apparently they were just a bunch of prejudiced and paranoid pricks when it came to working with one of them.

It turned out that, although the current CEO did not foresee the board members accepting any bid from another company for the R&D site that I wanted, they were amenable to hearing one from NorthCorp itself—_if_ that meant getting me out of the picture permanently. In the last several years, I had doggedly used my votes (and a little glamouring) to block the company from going public, which I knew would ultimately lead to problems. Part of me had wanted to protect my own investment; the rest had wanted to do as I figured Denjiro would have wished. However, according to Niall, the current board hated me even more for what they thought of as "the blood-sucker's interference."

Having a telepath tell me what was in the CEO's and board members' brains had been "enlightening"—to say the least. My blood had boiled. It had been NorthCorp that had sparked the research for their most profitable product, after all! But now I was anxious to put them out of business—to "drain" them in a way that would really hurt. It would take decades to do that; however, I was confident that it could be done. And I figured that even Denjiro would have approved, especially if he saw the way that his company now operated.

The plan that Niall and I came up with was simple. We decided to use NorthCorp's stock—my stock—in TruBlood to barter for the R&D site we wanted. And since the little site seemed to be "struggling" so much, the board members were willing to make the deal. NorthCorp got all the company's current research—not including information on the specific formula for TruBlood, which I didn't want anyway—as well as a nine million dollar cash settlement. And the TruBlood Corporation got my stock―stock which would be worthless within twenty years if I had anything to do with it.

According to Niall, the CEO was ecstatic about the deal, especially since the "under-performing" R&D facility in Louisiana—where he had hated to travel, by the way—was now off his plate. Niall also heard from the CEO's head that he had wanted to close down the facility in Louisiana for a while so that he could funnel more resources to an R&D site in Lima, Peru, where he had a mistress and an illegitimate child, who were—of course—unknown to his wife.

I had theorized for a long time that no matter how much money was put into research and development, the taste of TruBlood would never be improved significantly. I hypothesized that it was the scarcity of innate magic in most human's blood that caused TruBlood to taste so bland. And no scientists or flavorologists had been unable to improve the flavor in a measurable way—especially since the company tended to hire younger vampires as the "guinea pigs" to taste the new versions of the product.

Any older vampire could have told them that away from the source, human blood simply "lost" something. However, I had noticed—even from the sample made from Jason's blood—that fairy magic seemed to remain within synthetic strains, and that amped up the flavor profile a lot. Logically, the strain developed from Niall's blood would be even better. Through my own experience and through a little "taste-testing" done by Pam, I also knew that the drunken effects caused by Fae blood were negated almost entirely during the synthesizing process. However, there was a sense of overall "well-being" that went along with drinking the synthetic Fae blood. It was nothing too noticeable—just a buzz. But it would be enough to help us garner and keep customers, though I figured that the superior taste would do that all on its own.

Significantly, neither Pam nor myself had been able to trace the blood to its source—Jason—after drinking the synthetic version. The last thing I wanted was to risk the safety of my family by letting it get out that RBL was based on the blood of a fairy. In fact, the users of RBL would be misled to believe that we had found a way to improve the flavor of synthetic blood using demon magic. I had already arranged for that piece of misinformation to leak to the vampire community shortly before the launch of the product, and Mr. Cataliades had agreed to help.

I sighed contentedly as I played with the pendant that I had carved for my mate before allowing my fingers to move on to her silky skin underneath it. RBL was an ideal new venture for me, and I could tell that the fact that it was a family business pleased Sookie too, which added even more to the appeal.

I too was pleased by the nature of the new business. I had opened Fangtasia with Pam, of course, but other than that, I had never partnered with anyone in business. However, I had been enjoying working with Niall quite a bit. When he had been in the human realm with Viola, he had taken over the management of the Stackhouse family farm after both her parents had died, and under him it had flourished. He had a good head for the practical matters as well as the political maneuverings within large corporations. After all, he was a ruler in his own realm. It had been interesting and satisfying to learn new ideas and strategies from him, and he seemed to feel the same as I told him of some of the business ventures I had been involved in during my life.

"What's next?" I asked my wife, gesturing toward the list on the coffee table. In truth, I hoped we would soon come to the end of the items we needed to discuss. I was anxious to fulfill my promise to worship every inch of my mate's body.

Picking up by mood change from the vampire bond, Sookie grinned and gave me a flirtatious look. I waggled my eyebrows, as I knew she loved, and her grin turned into a laugh.

It was difficult for me not to take her right then, but I made myself be patient.

"Okay, just a few more things," she assured me. "Scott wanted me to give you an update on everything. I talked to him earlier today about Hunter's idea."

I smiled. After our last gathering for movie night, Hunter had declared that _his_ house was too small for _his_ family. During our time together, I had told Hunter many stories of my human past, and from them, he had learned about the great meeting halls built by Vikings. The hall in my own village had served many roles. It had helped to foster the closeness of the people in my community, and during the height of the winters, it had been where everyone gathered to stay warm and alive.

Hunter had decided that we needed a great hall on the _ætt land_. Thinking about the lack of seats and square footage in our living room, Sookie and I had quickly conceded his point.

In fact, I was proud of my son for coming up with the idea to construct a large recreation/family room. He was right. We did need a larger space for gatherings. At first, Sookie and I had thought to make the hall a freestanding building. Then we decided to place it in between what had become Miranda and Jarod's residence and Tara's new home, which were about forty feet away from each other. The new, large room, which was going to be 40 feet by 30 feet, would basically connect those two dwellings, and that space was going to house a large television and seating area for gatherings. Also, it would serve as a play space for the kids, especially in the winter, and given the announcement the previous week that Luna and Sam were going to be giving Emma a sibling, it seemed that there would soon be more and more children who could use the space.

Sookie and I were planning to surprise Hunter with a Wii for Christmas. Though Hunter was not that interested in playing electronic games, especially when the weather was nice and he could play outside, he had enjoyed playing the Wii at the Merlottes' residence with Emma when he and Sookie visited the weekend before. I knew that Hunter would likely have fun spending parts of cold days playing games with Emma, Coby, Lisa, and the other members of our growing family.

The large space would also have a kitchen built in one corner so that it could be used for family gatherings such as Thanksgiving as well. Hunter and I were already making plans to build an expandable table for such times. Since the two guest homes had been built in similar styles, the addition could be integrated easily to give the impression of one sprawling building. However, the occupants of both residences would still maintain their privacy.

Sookie continued. "Scott thinks that our plan for the," she paused and rolled her eyes, "_mead_ hall will work well."

I chuckled. It had been Hunter's idea to call the new space the "mead hall," and the name had stuck, much to Sookie's amusement _and_ chagrin. I smiled. My wife's emotions could certainly be "complicated" when it came to certain issues.

"And Scott sees no problem adding a light-tight safe room underneath the new family space?" I asked.

Sookie shook her head and then laughed light-heartedly. "Miranda wants the new room done—like—_yesterday_. She knows that she'll need a larger play area for the kids once the twins are born. Plus," she giggled again, "you know how much Godric loves to run around."

I nodded in agreement. Miranda and Jared's eldest _did_ have boundless energy. I'd talked to Tara about the idea of the "mead hall" myself, and she'd had no problems with her dwelling being connected to the new family space either. After all, as Tara had so elegantly put it, we didn't need her "fuckin' permission to do jack shit." I chuckled. Still—I wanted to make sure that Tara felt comfortable in the home that had been built with her in mind. Against all odds, Tara had become an important member of our family. She was as a sister to my bonded. She was a partner to Miranda in her work. And she was also loved by Hunter. Even I enjoyed her company on occasion. She was quite amusing, especially when Lafayette and Pam were present.

I sighed. An extremely motley group of individuals made up Sookie and my family, but I would not want it any other way now.

Sookie broke into my thoughts. "Scott also said that the vamp-cave is due to be finished on time—right at the beginning of November."

I chuckled. "Good! Pam is anxious to get out of the cubby and move all her clothing to the _ætt land_. And I know that Duncan is looking forward to having a place where he and Batanya can have more _privacy_." I winked at her.

"That reminds me," Sookie said with a glint in her eyes. "Pam _insists_ that separate privacy spells be put around their two halves of the 'vamp-cave.'" She giggled. "She says that Batanya and Duncan make you and me sound like church mice when they—um," she stopped mid-sentence and took on a lovely shade of red. My favorite fucking color.

I laughed and leaned in to kiss that beautiful blush. "I don't blame Pam. They _are_ very loud."

"T.M.I., Eric!" Sookie insisted, covering her ears and closing her eyes. When she opened them in mock wariness, I winked at her. She rewarded me with a giggle.

"Anything else?" I asked, ready to kiss that giggle right from her lips.

"Just one more thing," she smiled.

We both knew what we had been saving for last: our discussion of the daggers.

"What did Niall tell you about them?" I asked.

"Nothing. He told me to ask the A.P.," Sookie answered, the annoyance clear in her tone.

I rolled my eyes. "And _she_ told me to ask Niall."

"I'm starting to think they are being purposely obtuse," she said sarcastically.

"_Them_?" I asked in fake surprise. "Never!"

We both laughed.

"Well?" she asked.

"Let's put them together and see what happens," I ventured. "If we feel the urge to use them to exchange blood, then we will. Otherwise, we will just leave them together in the case. I believe that the magic within the blades will guide us, min kván."

"I agree." Sookie nodded and then looked at me warningly as I went to reach for the bag we had brought with us.

"No you don't," she said teasingly as she swatted my hand away and crawled over to the bag. I growled at the delicious sight of my mate moving like that, especially since her light robe was sneaking around her body in the most alluring of ways. She gave me a coy look and a wink over her shoulder as she carefully opened the bag. After moving some items around, she pulled out only the box that held the dagger Niall had given us in Dùraig. Unfortunately, despite craning my neck, I wasn't able to see what else was waiting for me inside that bag.

Sookie shook her head. "Tsk, tsk. Patience," she admonished playfully, "or no surprise for you. You're not gonna get what's in this bag till tomorrow night anyway, so you might as well cool your jets for now, Buck-o," she said, calling me by the nickname she liked to use when she was feeling especially playful. I wasn't quite sure what it was meant to reference, but I loved it anyway.

She placed the box on the coffee table, and—without a word—we both just stared at it for a minute.

Truth be told, one of the main reasons why we had wanted to come to the cabin was to bring the daggers together in a private space. I had kept the one that I had inherited from Godric in the cubby at the cabin to ensure its safety. I had kept the second dagger—the one that Niall had given to Sookie in Dùraig—close to me at the farmhouse as I had waited for Sookie to return home. Both of the daggers held a special meaning for Sookie and me. Godric's—which had been given to him by the A.P.—was what we had used to complete our vampire bond and then to pledge. We had used the second dagger, which had been given to us by Niall―and which had obviously once belonged to Artegal—to strengthen our bonds in Dùraig after we had been separated for so long.

Both Sookie and I intuited that reuniting the blades would produce a profound effect. After all, each time we had used either of the daggers, there had been a powerful reaction, especially when we had used the second dagger in Dùraig. Truth be told, we were somewhat wary to bring them together; however, we were also being pulled to reunite them. And I felt certain that as long as Sookie and I were together, the power of the daggers would not hurt us.

Or—at least—I hoped that was the case.

* * *

[_**A/N: **_Hello! I am back from my holiday with my family. I had a great time! But it is always good to be home too. I haven't looked at the next chapter of this story yet, so I'm not sure how much I will have to edit, but I hope to get it to you tomorrow or the day after that.

Thanks so much for all the holiday greetings and well-wishes. I cannot say this enough! **THANK YOU!** You all are the best fans a person could ever ask for!]


	10. Chapter 10: Two to One

**Chapter 10: Two to One**

_**SPOV**_

After I had placed the box that contained the dagger my great-grandfather had passed on to me on the coffee table, I found myself just staring at the box—unable to move for at least a minute. I felt a mix of emotions that were mirrored in my mate: excitement, longing, a little bit of fear.

"Shall I go get the other?" Eric asked, breaking my concentration on the beautiful object he had made so that we could keep the two daggers together.

I pulled my eyes from the box and looked into his blue orbs, which were dancing with anticipation. My breath hitched.

He was beautiful.

I nodded, and he rose with more grace than I had ever displayed in my life. Almost as if they couldn't help themselves, my eyes roved over his body, appreciating each subtle and supple movement. Eric had been turned into a vampire at the height of his strength as a human—his body powerful and confident. His well-formed muscles ran smoothly under his skin, creating dips and planes that had been earned from hard work and a life of activity and war. Scars from his human life made him even more handsome in my eyes, for they served as the proof of what he had survived, as well as what had led to his being turned. He'd told me of all of those scars: the slight dip above his hairline from when he'd taken a fall from a horse; the line on his hip that marked a cut from his first battle; the deeper line on his shoulder, telling of the time he'd fallen into a stream in the winter and had been cut by a jagged rock; a rough line on the side of his leg, marking the place where one of Russell's Weres had clawed him the night his parents died. The largest scar on Eric's body told the story of the wound that would have taken him from this world if Godric had not been there to turn him. Each mark proved more and more that Eric was a survivor.

He was beautiful.

I had once thought that all vampires were graceful creatures, but Eric had told me that most were not. The illusion of grace was created by a vampire's ability to move at such incredible speeds; thus, humans could not discern any missteps. But they were definitely there, according to Eric. Eric had had me in stitches one night as he told me about how awkward many vampires actually were, especially when they were first turned. I giggled until my sides hurt as he told me about Pam's initial attempts to use a sword. Between her lack of coordination and her yet-to-be-controlled speed and strength, many fine clothes were apparently sacrificed to Pam's training, according to Eric. Clearly, however, Pam had worked hard to become graceful.

My husband, however, had a grace about him that seemed intrinsic, though I knew that it was also hard-earned. Eric should have been gangly, given his height and the length of his limbs. But he was not. I'd seen enough of Hunter's sword training to know that our child was also developing the same kind of grace as his father. Even in the short weeks I had been home, I noticed that Hunter's limbs—which were currently out-pacing the rest of his body in the growth department—still moved fluidly along with the rest of him. I could tell that Eric was making sure that this would be the case by teaching Hunter what I thought was a variation of Tai-Chi before their actual swordplay. And Hunter was absorbing the movements like a sponge.

My eyes trailed up my husband's sinewy body to his eyes, which were alit with amusement, lust, and love. Always love.

He was beautiful.

He smirked, his own eyes moving from mine to glance at the bag I'd just taken the box out of. "You sure I cannot at least have a peek, lover?" he asked, alluringly. My breath caught in my throat.

Yes. He was beautiful.

"Don't you like surprises?" I asked, moving to get up so that I could run to the bathroom while Eric got the other dagger. In another fluid movement, Eric helped me up and then held me against his chest. He placed a soft kiss on my forehead.

"I love surprises when they come from you," he answered, his eyes twinkling. "I love them so much that I want this one now." He grinned like a child trying to charm an early present on Christmas Eve. I couldn't help but to grin back, knowing that I'd probably see that same expression on Hunter's face come December 24th. They were two peas in a pod.

"If you ruin my surprise," I paused, trying to think of something witty to say, but failing when he distracted me with a waggle of his eyebrows. So not fair.

So beautiful.

I finished lamely, "Well—just remember that I know where you sleep, Buck-o."

He chuckled. "Are you threatening my un-death, wife?" He tickled my side a little and I squirmed in his arms.

"Only if you peek," I giggled. "And stop tickling me!" I squirmed some more. "The human has human needs to take care of."

He stopped immediately and bent down to kiss my lips chastely. "Fine," he pouted a little.

"I mean it!" I said, trying to look stern even though the bond conveyed the mirth I was really feeling. "No peeking!"

He chuckled, gave me some kind of 'scout's honor' salute that I didn't believe for a second, and then zipped down to the cubby. I hurried up and took care of my "human" business—something that my husband now called my "potty-time" thanks to Hunter's "reeducation" of him. I closed my eyes and sighed happily; thinking of my boys always did that to me.

Yes. Two peas, one pod.

* * *

When I was done with the "potty," I quickly washed my hands and went to rejoin Eric, who I was sure had beaten me back to the living room. I was surprised, however, to see that he was waiting for me in the hall next to the cubby door. I looked up at him in question.

"What's up?" I asked as I felt uncertainty coming from him through the vampire bond.

He gave me a half-smile and spoke quietly, "I just felt the need to wait for you before I put them in the same room. Plus," he hesitated and carefully handed me the wrapped dagger in his hand, "I think this one is," he paused, "_yours_." His sentence sounded almost like a question.

"Mine?" I asked as I noticed that his hand had been shaking a little until he handed me the dagger.

He sighed and nodded, looking almost relieved that the dagger was out of his hands.

"You okay?" I asked him.

He took a moment, nodded, and then gestured toward the weapon now in my palm. "You okay?" he asked.

I nodded immediately, without needing to think about it. Despite the fact that it was still covered, the dagger felt warm in my hands—comforting. It just felt "right."

"Okay—I get it," I said, now understanding what Eric had meant about this dagger being _mine_. "That must mean the other one is _yours_?" I posited.

"I think so," he said.

I took a deep breath. "Well, we sort of felt that before—right?"

"Yes," he agreed. "But I have never felt uncomfortable holding this one before."

"Well," I said, looking down at the wrapped blade in my hand and feeling a sense of well-being, "that was before the other one—uh—marked you."

We both remembered how the other dagger had lit Eric's hands to a reddish glow while we were in Dùraig. It almost seemed like our bonding with that dagger had opened up his ability to use my Fae magic—my light—to blast or to heal someone. But, for him, the color had always been reddish, whereas my light was always white. Neither Eric nor I had ever wondered why that was the case. For some reason, it just seemed _natural_ that it would be like that.

"Let's go," I said as I took his hand with my free one. "I want to see them together." Something about holding _my_ dagger had taken away my anxiety, and I now felt myself being pulled toward the living room.

Eric, on the other hand, seemed more nervous than before and didn't move for a moment.

"What?" I asked.

"Just that I do not want you to be hurt," he said cautiously—protectively.

"I won't be. I _know_ it," I said with a little smile as I sent confidence through our bond.

He nodded and moved his feet when I pulled him again.

Immediately when we got into the living room, my hand felt warmer, though not hot. It was like all of the warmth of the sun was suddenly inside of me, but without the heat.

Even as I tried to figure out that paradox, Eric was making a beeline for the coffee table and the other dagger. He pulled me along with him.

Immediately, he opened the box and took out the other dagger, which was also wrapped in cloth. As he did so, I sensed his anxiety suddenly disappear from the vampire bond. Still looking down at the blade in my own hand, I felt and heard a loud sigh from my mate.

"Everything will be alright," he said, his voice now full of confidence.

I didn't speak, but I nodded next to him, and I was certain that he felt my confirmation of his words through the vampire bond.

* * *

_**EPOV**_

As soon as I held _my_ dagger in my hand, I felt calm.

My mind flew to a long-ago memory of my human mother placing a heated blanket over me near the hearth in the great hall of our village. That memory was from my sixth winter. It had been a particularly bitter season, and I had fallen into a stream that I had thought was frozen over. After that, I had become terribly ill for many weeks—probably with what humans now called pneumonia. I had a vague memory that several children and elders had already died during that long, frigid winter. And I could see the fear in my father's eyes every time he looked at me, though that fear was never in my mother's eyes. There, I saw only faith and love.

My mother and an elderly woman who was known as a healer cared for me at all times until I was better. They would place my blankets right next to the hearth in order to warm them for me.

As I looked at the dagger, I remembered feeling the warmth of the newly-heated blankets many times throughout the days and nights when I was sick. That warmth centered me, and because of it, I did not become lost to the cold—to the death that threatened to take me so young.

I had felt safe in that warmth, surrounded by my mother and father, as well as the people in our community and even the animals we counted on to sustain us. They too were brought indoors during the winters, for both their own safety and the heat that they would add to the hall.

But what I remembered most of all about my sixth winter was not my illness. It was the warmth of the heated blankets and my mother's kind eyes as she cared for me. Having _my_ dagger in my hand made me feel just as safe, and I recognized that this feeling now came from the fact that Sookie made me feel even safer. She held my heart even as I held the dagger.

By contrast, after I had held the other dagger—Sookie's dagger—for just a few minutes, I had become anxious and was on edge. But this one in my hand felt _right_, just as I could tell the one in Sookie's hand felt _right_ to her.

It was somewhat odd to me that the daggers were not interchangeable, but—then again—Sookie and I were very different people. We were complements, but we were independent too. Maybe that was why I always felt "added to" when she was with me. All I knew was that it was _right_ that we were there—together—her with _her_ blade and me with _mine_.

Immediately after I had _my_ blade in my hand, Sookie sensed my change of mood through the bond, and she sighed with relief right along with me.

"What happened just now in the hall?" she asked.

I shrugged as we both sat down on the couch at the same time. There was a little space between us as we turned to face each other. "This dagger is apparently the one I _needed_ to hold," I answered simply, not wanting to question the magic tied up in the daggers. "When I held that one," I gestured toward the blade in her hand, "it felt wrong to me somehow."

"Was it hurting you?" she asked.

"Not really," I tried to explain. "It felt like instead of holding onto that dagger, I needed to be holding onto you." I shrugged again.

"But wouldn't they be the same? I mean—they never seemed to be like this when they weren't together," Sookie commented. "I've held the one in your hands and you've held this one, and we've never had a problem before."

"Should we try to exchange them?" I suggested, though I could hear the nervousness in my own voice.

Sookie immediately looked unsure and then laughed nervously. "That thought just made me squirm."

"Me too," I admitted with a little chuckle.

We looked at each other's knives. They were both still covered.

"Let's leave them covered if we exchange them," she said.

"Agreed," I concurred.

Okay—on the count of three?" she suggested.

Trying to break the tension, we both smiled at each other. "1—2—3," we counted together and then swapped.

It took a few seconds, but the feeling of overall wellbeing that I had when I was holding _my_ knife started to change to anxiety.

I could feel something similar from Sookie's side of the bond, so I immediately motioned for us to exchange back.

We both sighed in relief at getting the _right_ dagger back. And the sense of peace was immediately back as well.

"Okay, that was weird," she said.

"Indeed. Shall we unwrap them?" I suggested, even as my fingers itched to do just that.

She nodded and we both slowly took out the daggers. Immediately, mine shone a red color in my hand. Sookie's shone white.

I could not take my eyes off of the white light in her hand. It was like a magnet drawing me to it.

It was beautiful. She was beautiful.

Instinctively, I knew that Sookie's gaze was locked on my own hand in a similar way.

"I need to touch you," Sookie said in a rough, low voice that hardly sounded like hers.

"I know," I said in a similarly unfamiliar voice. My eyes stayed on her hand as we both inched toward each other until our thighs were touching. Where our skin met, there seemed to be a kind of electric spark—not uncomfortable, but enlivening.

Her breathing was coming faster. "You okay?" I asked.

"Yes," she whispered. "Better than okay."

"Me too," I shared. "It is like an electric current, but there is no pain."

"I really want to hold your hand, Eric," she said almost desperately.

I felt like I was salivating to do the same as our hands—the ones that were holding the daggers—moved toward each other, almost as if they were not being powered by us. My eyes tracked her hand to mine.

And then our palms were together suddenly—faster than I had thought they would be. It almost felt like I had missed a second of time.

Sookie gasped, and it was clear that she had experienced a similar sensation to my own.

Her hand was locked into mine, and―together―our palms and fingers held the two daggers in place next to each other. The two shades of light from our hands seemed to vibrate for a moment before melding into one color, lighter than mine but darker than hers.

"Beautiful," she said as if entranced.

"Yes," I agreed.

"That's us," she added awestruck.

"Yes."

"Our lights together."

"Yes," I agreed again—like a broken record. I didn't seem to be able to say much else.

Despite the fact that I was touching _her_ knife again, it did not leave me anxious this time. If there was any word that could have described me in that moment, it was "euphoric." No—"sheltered." It was as if the dagger in Sookie's grasp represented all those things that might have endangered me, but in my mate's hand, it seemed like those very things could only give me strength.

It was a beautiful paradox. She was beautiful.

I was speechless for several minutes—as was Sookie—as we watched the light swirl around our hands and then around our wrists and then around our arms.

"Closer," I managed as I pulled her onto my lap with my free hand.

She immediately turned to straddle me, and our joined hands—with the daggers still pressed against each other—fell in between us, just about level with our hearts. I looked at her face and saw that her eyes were closed tightly.

"Closer," she murmured.

She moved quickly and buried her face into my neck, even as I buried mine into hers. My own eyes were now closed too, but I could still see the light. And I could feel its continued swirling around us, encompassing us more and more, building in strength.

"Eric," Sookie said in a desperate whisper.

"Closer," we spoke together.

I pulled her in as close as I could without allowing the knives to cut into her.

"Better?" I asked. She nodded into my neck. I cracked my eyes open to see that our bodies were now embraced almost fully by our light, which had changed to blue—the color of blue fire.

"Open your eyes, Sookie," I said with a sigh. "It is beautiful."

I felt through the bond when she did. "Eric," she gasped with awe in her voice as the light around us vibrated to a crescendo in a circle around us, before suddenly moving in closer to our bodies and then working its way into us.

I wanted her closer, but the knives were right over our skin. I knew the daggers would cut me if I pulled her in further, but I had to bring her closer nonetheless. I made sure the sharpened sides of both blades were turned toward me and then pulled her into me. I felt the daggers slicing into my bare chest―right above my heart. There, the blades created two thin, parallel wounds.

It was not enough. We were not close enough. Pulling her closer, I pushed the blades further into my body.

It still was not enough.

"They want my blood too," Sookie stammered out as the force of the light moving into us doubled in pressure.

"I know," I said, even though the last thing I wanted was to see her flesh marred.

Her eyes locked to mine as our joined hands between us shook with power. Her free hand rose to one shoulder of her robe, even as my free hand moved to the other shoulder of the garment. In tandem, we pushed the robe from her body so that her chest was bare. Her skin felt like a warmed blanket as it touched mine.

"You feel like the ocean in winter," she said, closing her eyes for a moment.

"You are the sun warming the water," I said in wonderment as her gaze once more locked into mine.

Our bare torsos now touching as much as possible, I realized how hot her skin felt even as my own flesh cooled as if I were naked in the snow—as if I were a boy again, once more fallen into that icy stream. This time, however, I did not almost perish; my mate was there to warm me with her fire.

I looked down to see her turning the daggers in our hands as she pulled herself even closer to me.

I could smell her lifeblood as both of the blades cut into her, but I knew by the amount of blood drawn that neither of the twin slices above her heart was deep. They matched my own un-healing wounds exactly.

I heard a click and realized it was my fangs. Without even registering that I had moved, I felt my fangs break the skin of my mate's neck. I felt her blood slipping into my mouth, warming me from the inside out. And in the same moment, I felt her blunt teeth bite into my flesh, and I knew that she was taking in my blood as well.

"So cool," she muttered between drinks. Her skin was a fever against my body.

I could say nothing as I was compelled to continue drinking slowly from my wife's heat. I could do nothing but try to monitor her through our bonds. And then, I could not even do that as the light—our light—eclipsed even our bonds.

I could no longer feel either of our bonds inside of me. Or, perhaps, I could feel _only_ them. I was not certain. Everything inside of me felt like a jumble of emotions and cravings. Yet at the same time, I felt so resolute and focused on the woman in front of me that all my life was like a crystal clear stream that had led me to her―only to her. Or―maybe―I _was_ her and she _was_ me. Maybe we truly were one being—me the pool and her the sun, disappearing into each other. She warmed right through me, all the way to the bottom. I could not be sure what I was or what she was or what _we_ were in that moment. And I did not fucking care. All I could do was to hold her as closely as possible and to drink in the warmth that I knew would prevent me from freezing in the cold. All I could do was to quench the burning thirst that I felt from my Sookie with my own cool blood, and when the wound she had bitten into my flesh threatened to close, I refused to let it.

And then—it could have been minutes or hours later—it was over. Whatever had happened between us suddenly stopped, and all that remained was the light in our still interlocked hands. I raised my mouth from her already healing neck just as she raised hers from mine, each of us licking our lips as if losing even one drop of our connected blood would kill us both.

Our eyes found each other first. Her brown orbs glowed with the warmth of hearth and home, the flecks of green in them promising the richness of future harvests and prosperity. I wondered what my eyes showed her. I hoped that they made promises that I would nurture her even as she nurtured me—always.

Always.

We both seemed to be assessing the other with our eyes, making sure we had suffered no injuries. When we were satisfied, our gazes traveled downward and looked at our still-joined hands and the light there. The color was now different—muddied but lovely—a kaleidoscope of different pinks and whites and deep reds with just an echo of violet. My eyes stayed locked on that spectrum of light for a while, and then—as if of one thought―Sookie and I both moved our daggers to the side and then placed them onto the piece of white linen that I'd had Godric's dagger wrapped up in.

Neither of us commented as we worked together to wrap up the daggers in the fabric. Sookie turned her body slightly, even as we both lifted the wrapped daggers and then placed them into the box. We both looked at the fabric for a few more moments before we each took a side of the lid and closed the box. It felt right that the daggers were now housed in the same place—that they should touch one another.

It _was_ right.

We kept our hands resting together on the lid for a moment before Sookie turned back around in my lap. Her forehead found mine and we were silent for a while.

Neither one of us needed to confirm with the other the effects of what had just happened. I knew that she had experienced the same sensation as I had.

Our fairy bond was no longer inside of me.

Our vampire bond was no longer inside of me.

They were both gone.

* * *

[_**A/N:**_ Hello! Thanks for all the reviews! I'm so glad you all are still with me, despite my time away with family. This scene with Eric and Sookie bonding with both the daggers was one that I had wanted to include in _Come Back to Me_, but I could never find a good spot for it, so sharing it with you was one of the main reasons why I wrote _Sojourn_. I hope that you liked it. It was funny when I drafted this and realized that there was not a "lemon" in this scene, but for some reason, it didn't feel right to have one here, but don't worry…the vampire will soon be stirring up a big glass of lemonade. ;)

I'll try to get you the next chapter tomorrow or the next day.

Best!

CKat]


	11. Chapter 11: Two As One

**Chapter 11: Two As One**

_Neither one of us needed to confirm with the other the effects of what had just happened. I knew that she had experienced the same sensation as I had. _

_Our fairy bond was no longer inside of me. _

_Our vampire bond was no longer inside of me. _

_They were both gone._

* * *

_**EPOV**_

Instead of our two bonds, there was now only one bond in me, but the one seemed so much greater than the two had been.

It was a fusion—made up of the parts of what had been there before, but somehow new too. Through the new bond, I could sense—I could feel—my mate more strongly than I ever had before. I could sense her wellbeing and her emotions as if they were mine. However, I could also feel them distinctly. I knew that I could call her to me and that she could do the same. I knew I would always know where she was—no matter how far she was from me. But—even more than that—I somehow knew that I would now be able to feel her emotions even if she was in the Fae realm and I was in the human realm. I somehow knew that I would be able to travel with her to Dùraig and stay as long as I wished—and probably even go into Faerie proper itself if need be. I intuited that everything that our two bonds had done before had been amplified and adapted to work more efficiently as they had literally become one.

A beautiful one.

I had known before that our bonds were unique and special. I now knew that there would never be another bond like ours because there would never be another woman like the one I held in my arms.

Sookie's fingers were tracing the twin fine lines that now ran parallel above my heart. Our wounds from the daggers had healed, but had left behind scars—even on me. I smiled as I traced my wife's matching marks, knowing that our scars would stay with us always, signifying the place of our new bond.

"You have finally managed to mark me, wife," I said, feeling my lips turn up into a smile. However, the teasing that I had intended to be in my tone was not there. What was there were awe and gratefulness. For a thousand years, my body had always returned to exactly how it had been when Godric turned me—no matter how many wounds befell it. I stared down at my chest, which had looked the same to me for a millennium. My wife had now changed me on the _outside_ as well as on the inside. I was _Sookie's_ Eric. And she was mine.

"I wonder if the A.P. felt this way when she bonded with Artegal," Sookie mused dreamily as she continued to trace my new scar with a loving touch.

"I am sure it would have been something like this," I responded. "But Fae and demons are of the same lineage, so they would have had only one bond between them. We are unique in that we _had_ two bonds: vampire and Fae."

"Had," she said in a whisper.

"_Had_," I returned.

"And now they're together," she sighed and snuggled into my chest, kissing the twin scars.

"Two marks on the outside and one bond on the inside," I said as I kissed the top of her head.

We both sat in silence for a few minutes, her tracing my marks as if to make sure they stayed branded into my skin and me contemplating what I had just said. They led to a paradox that I now knew as a truth: only two could make one. Yet—in order to be together forever—the two had to remain separate in some ways, just like the parallel lines running above my heart. We intersected inside of our bodies—inside of our bond—even as we remained parallel to one another, forever running our course together. It was a mathematician's nightmare: two lines could not be both parallel and intersecting. However, Sookie and I had already broken the laws of magic many times. Why not mathematics too? I smiled and kissed her forehead as she once more kissed my scars.

"I love feeling you even stronger than I did before," she sighed.

"Mmmm," I responded as I buried my nose into her silky hair.

"I wanna try something—okay?" she asked.

"Okay," I said, as I pulled back from our embrace a little so that I could look at her.

I saw mischief and curiosity in her eyes as they once more took hold of mine.

Suddenly I heard her voice telling me that she loved me even though her lips had not moved to speak. Her voice—her beautiful, musical voice—was coming from inside our new bond.

"Try it," she said into the bond even as a huge smile broke out onto her face.

I closed my eyes, pictured myself inside the bond with Sookie, and then spoke, "Jag älskar dig också, min vackra fru." _["I love you too, my beautiful wife."]_ I opened my eyes in wonder.

She giggled. "Ha! Hunter's already taught me those words."

"Damn—then I can have no more secrets," I teased, still speaking into the bond. It was easier the second time.

"Only the ones I _let_ you keep," she teased back.

Gods, I loved her. I bent down to kiss her hard.

"I like this new skill," she moaned, speaking into me even as she returned my kiss with fervor.

"Me too," I returned. Indeed—it would come in handy. "Now kissing and talking can happen at the same time."

Her giggle broke our kiss. She swatted my arm playfully as her unabashed joy filled the bond. My own happiness swirled around hers.

She closed her eyes and screwed up her nose a bit so that I could see that she was concentrating.

"What?" I asked.

"My telepathy still can't pick you up—thank God," she said out loud.

I concentrated on trying to hear her thoughts. "And I am still _not_ a telepath," I laughed.

She ran her tongue along her incisors. "Still no fangs," she teased. "And sadly, I think you'll have to keep doin' the flyin' for us."

I chuckled. "I think we share only the powers that we need to share, min kära. I have always thought that."

She nodded in agreement. "And I'm bettin' that we can do only what we did before—but just better."

I nodded. "I think you are right."

She bit her bottom lip. "Well then?" she asked with a blush.

I could not help but to smile at the red in her cheeks. "Well?" I asked.

"Well," she said coyly, "if we can do _everything_ better," her voice trailed off as her lust ratcheted up in our new bond. The strength of it fueled my own desire for her.

"You wish to test the _everything_, lover?" I asked, feeling my cock grow hard against her.

She gasped a little as she felt me against her thigh. If anything, her blush increased.

So beautiful.

She nodded. "I think our talk is over," she whispered, her voice lower than usual.

"Nothing else on the list?" I teased a little, even though my own lust had now thickened my voice as well.

She bit her lip. "Just one more thing."

"What's that?" I asked even as her lips met mine.

"Take me to bed," she said into the bond.

Yep. I was definitely going to enjoy our new ability.

* * *

_**SPOV**_

As soon as I'd made my request, Eric picked me up. My robe, which had already been loosened from my upper body, fell to the floor and was quickly forgotten. My arms immediately twined around his neck and my legs wrapped around his waist as his lips played with mine in a kiss that was as powerful as it was soft.

It was perfect. He was perfect. He was mine.

I felt the whoosh of stirred air against my back as Eric flew us to our bedroom. However, the gentleness of his kiss—of his touch—contrasted with the speed of his movement. Instead of falling onto the bed in a heavy—though heavenly—heap of tangled limbs and then fucking each other until one or both of us was literally fucked into the mattress—as I'd thought would happen—Eric laid us down delicately, using his ability to fly to hover over me so that I wouldn't feel his whole weight.

Our kiss lingered for what felt like an hour. It was a deep kiss, and our tongues were just as active as our lips were. We tasted and moaned into each other, reveling in the closeness of our bodies and the feeling of the new bond within us. In truth, I felt as if I could kiss him like that forever and be happy, and he seemed just as content.

The desperate fire that had raged inside of me as we'd bonded with the two daggers had been put out by my mate, and now I was simply enjoying the sensation of being loved—the sensation of being bonded to Eric in a new way that eclipsed even the bonds that we'd had before.

"I love you," he told me inside the bond even as he continued kissing me.

"I feel it," I said back to him, glad that I didn't have to break the languorous embrace of our lips to talk to him. "Do you feel how much I love you, Eric?"

He allowed his body to sink onto me a bit more, though he still didn't seem heavy against me.

"I do," he said out loud as he broke our kiss for the first time in what seemed like ages. His eyes captured mine, his blue orbs a jumble of love, playfulness, and awe. "I am going to break a promise I made to myself involving you, min kära," he said in a rough whisper.

"What's that?" I asked as my fingers roamed freely over his broad shoulders.

"I was going to kiss every inch of you tonight," he reported. "Worship. _Every_. Inch."

My breath hitched as his eyes went from my eyes to my lips. "And now?"

He smiled. "And now, all I want to do is to kiss you _here_ while I make love to you." He placed his lips softly onto mine before deepening our kiss again.

"That's fine by me," I said into the bond when his lips seemed unwilling to part from mine so that I could indicate my agreement with his new plan. "You can kiss the rest of me tomorrow night after you get your surprise," I added into the bond, even as I swirled my tongue around his fang.

He half-groaned and half-chuckled into my lips, but did not break the embrace of our mouths. His lips vibrating against mine and his joy in the bond felt like pure bliss to me. Eric's hands moved through my hair and over my upper body in smooth and tender caresses. I groaned when they left my skin, but moaned when I heard what I figured were Eric's boxer-briefs being ripped in half by those same strong hands. That supposition was confirmed a moment later as I felt his hard length against my entrance. Without needing to check, he knew that I was ready for him, and he gently lowered himself until he was sheathed all the way inside of me.

I welcomed him as a part of myself.

I had lost count of how many times I had made love to Eric. And—as cheesy as it might have seemed—every single time we had been together had been _making love_, even when we were against a wall fucking each other's brains out. No matter how fast or slow or rough or gentle our couplings were, we had _loved_ each other every time we'd joined.

As they had formed and then strengthened, our two bonds—fairy and then vampire—had enabled Eric and me to feel even more pleasure as we'd made love. They'd allowed us to experience more intensity, for they had given us the pleasure of feeling each other's emotions. But nothing had ever been as profound as the love-making that we were sharing now.

Eric had always been able to find and then stimulate the most pleasurable places on and inside of my body. Even as his soft kisses continued, his gracious plenty was stroking my spot—the spot that always brought my body to flames. But this time, it seemed like every pleasure had been amplified. He was stoking and dousing the fire within me at the same time. And I knew that I was bringing heat to his cool flesh as he moved in and out of me at a slow and steady pace.

* * *

_**EPOV**_

The physical stirring of my body by my mate was the same as it had always been. But it was also _more_.

Her body gripped mine tightly with its soft heat, even as the moisture flowing from her sheath allowed me to slip into and out of her easily. Our couplings had always brought with them the most amazing contrasts that my body had ever experienced. Simply put, her pussy was built to hold my cock; as profane or unromantic as that statement might have sounded to some, I had had a thousand years of experience to know the truth of it. Her womanhood gripped me in a way that was almost painful at times. Sweet pain. However, she was always so wet for me and so warm that I never had difficulty entering her. Sweet pleasure.

It struck me that we were joining in the most basic of ways. I was on top of her body, moving in and out of her. Her legs were wrapped around my thighs, though she was not gripping me with them as she usually did when we were in this position. Usually, I would be thrusting into her harder or faster, but right now, my body wanted only to stay inside of hers for as long as it could before retreating and then delving into her again. It seemed that my cock wanted to linger inside of her just as my lips were lingering on hers. And I was fine with that plan.

The pleasure I felt building up slowly in her mirrored my own, and I knew that we would eventually reach a point when our orgasms would spill over, but the sweet water that would consume the flames burning inside of us was rising slowly. Eventually, it would overflow and then fill us both, but it would do so in a prolonged trickle and not a flood.

Instinctively, I knew that was what we needed right now. Maybe that was all that we could withstand since our fused bond was still so new to us. And _so_ fucking strong! Anything more might have been too much, or it might have been too little. It was hard to say. It was another paradox.

But it was a beautiful one.

The bond itself crackled with intensity as Sookie and I slowly became accustomed to feeling each other so penetratingly within it. Every emotion she had was a living entity inside of me. Everything she thought into me was heard. Every enduring feeling she had for me was molten lava engulfing me in its grip.

It was fucking amazing.

Trying both to prolong and to survive the profundity of our joining, I centered all of my pleasure on her lips and tongue. Through our kisses we could say that we loved one another over and over again. Between the bond and my lips, I was telling her how much she meant to me—how much she would always mean to me.

It was simple. She meant _everything_.

I was careful to make sure that my kisses never became too rough. I did not want to steal her breath so that she would have to pull away. I wanted her mouth to relax into mine—to stay with mine. And it did. It was heaven.

Certainly, we were both receiving pleasure from the feeling of the lower halves of our bodies joining, but that pleasure was—for once—secondary to what I was experiencing elsewhere inside my body. Before Sookie, sex had always been a purely physical thing for me—except with Godric, though that too had been different. I had had sex with Godric mostly because I was compelled to be closer to my maker, not because I was attracted to him physically.

With Sookie, sex had always been both physical and emotional; thus, my enjoyment of the act and especially its meaning for me had grown exponentially. However, now, it felt as if my mind was just as active in our coupling as my body was. It was not as if my mind had turned off when I had been with her before, but any man with a dick could tell you that the "big head" generally listened to the "little head" when an imminent orgasm was on the horizon. Vampires did not become immune to this propensity.

However, my "big brain" seemed hyperactive as I kissed my wife. My body was also hyper-aware. Everything was felt, and every feeling was cherished. Everywhere that Sookie's flesh touched mine was hotter, just as everywhere that mine touched hers was cooler. I could not help but to wonder if this was the way things had always been between us before—if I was only able to recognize the sensation now that we had created our new bond. I knew that Sookie had enjoyed the cool of my flesh even as I had always enjoyed the heat of hers, but I had never been able to truly comprehend the perfect contrast—the perfect complement—until now.

I sighed even as she sighed below me.

"Perfect," I heard us both say into the bond at the same time. I felt her smile into our kiss even as I was smiling.

Perfect.

I noticed that her hands were already exactly where I most wanted them to be. They were gripped into my shoulders, her fingernails pressed into me with the perfect balance of need and pain. Those fingers told me that she wanted me. They told me that she wanted me _closer_.

Perfect.

"Perfect," came Sookie's voice into the bond.

"Perfect," I spoke into her mouth, not knowing if she could make out the word, but knowing that she had heard me anyway.

* * *

We had been making delicious love for three hours, forty-two minutes, and twelve seconds when I felt the walls of Sookie's womanhood pulse around me, signaling her release. Her orgasm was strong and long-lasting. And she took me with her. I filled her with seed that would not bear fruit no matter how much I wanted it to—no matter how often I wished that it could.

However, at the same time, I felt elation because I _was_ filling the mother of my child. I would give my life to have another child with Sookie, but the one that we already had together—and make no mistake, Hunter was _ours_—would always be enough. More than enough.

It was just another paradox about Sookie and me. I knew that I would always regret not being able to give her additional children made from our DNA. No matter how much magic we had together, there were some things that no amount of love could accomplish. But—at the same time—I would never take for granted the child that fate had given to us. We had somehow managed to have the best child in the world—a child that was destined just for us—without being able to produce children of our own. That too was the work of magic.

Sookie's body continued to grip and then release me as she took what seemed like every ounce of cum I had from my body. Again and again, I gushed into her—until neither of us had anything left to give.

Yet I felt so fucking full!

Finally we were sated.

I let my body fall onto hers for a moment before moving to her side. Immediately, she cradled me so that my head was lying on her chest. I listened to her heart beat, even as contentment flooded my own un-beating heart.

It was still an hour before sunrise, but as soon as I felt her breathing even out and knew that she was sleeping, I slept too.

And while the sun was still down, I dreamed of her.

* * *

[_**A/N:**_ Hello! I hoped you enjoyed this chapter! Thanks to those of you who responded to the last one! It means a lot to know that there are still people out there that want to hear more about this Eric and Sookie. Sojourn is more than halfway completed now, but we still have one more full night and a few hours the next evening to cover in this little "interlude."

_**Next up**_: Sookie will begin preparing to give Eric his surprise. ;)

I'll try to post the next chapter either tomorrow or the next day!]


	12. Chapter 12: Instructions

**Chapter 12: Instructions**

_**SPOV**_

I woke up a little before 3:00 p.m. to find that I hadn't moved an inch since I'd fallen asleep cradling Eric to my body. I was lying on my back and my Viking was lying on my chest; however, as always, he'd somehow managed to keep me from feeling too much of his weight.

"Magic," I chucked to myself as I looked down at my 6'4" husband, who should have felt like a ton of dead weight on top of my much smaller frame. My smile stayed on my lips. "Magic indeed," I said aloud, knowing that Eric was dead to the world and could not hear me.

However, despite his stillness—his apparent death—I still _felt_ him clearly. And it wasn't just the usual buzz of his life that I'd been able to sense from him before our bonds fused into one; it was an imprint of what he'd been feeling before he'd fallen into his day-rest. He wasn't dreaming—at least not exactly—but he didn't seem fully dead either. I felt his happiness. I felt his peace.

It was effin' amazing.

I brushed his soft blond bangs across his forehead and studied what I could see of his face, given our position. He'd fallen into his rest with a tiny smile on his lips, which matched exactly the feeling that still echoed in our "new" bond. His face, though burrowed into my breast like it was a pillow—a fact that made my skin warm into a blush—was turned slightly upward, as if he had been looking at me right before sleep called to him. I blushed a little brighter when I saw that one of his large hands was also lying on my breast, but when I looked a bit closer, I realized that his elegant fingers were actually resting on my new scar. I sighed. I could barely make out the twin lines on his chest from our position, but I knew that they were an exact copy of my own.

I rested my fingers on top of Eric's, and I felt a slight tingle in our bond, as if it knew our hands were together right on top of it. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feeling until my bladder decided to make its presence known.

Although I wasn't tired, I crawled back into bed after a quick trip to the bathroom. Once there, I moved back to where I'd been before, carefully positioning Eric so that he was once more resting on me. Since I'd been back from the fairy realm, I hadn't wanted him to wake up alone. The few times I hadn't been able to be with him when he woke up, I had felt a sharp pang of fear from his side of the vampire bond as soon as he'd woken up. That fear was always immediately followed by an almost desperate probing into the bond until he found that I was safe and near. I sighed and ran my fingers through his hair and along his shoulders in soft, soothing strokes, even though I knew that he probably couldn't feel them. I hated that he was still afraid that I would be gone when he woke up. I understood why he felt that fear; it was natural. But I still hated it.

I made sure that my mate's fingers were exactly where they'd been when he fell asleep.

And then I fell back into my dreams of him.

* * *

_**EPOV**_

For a vampire, waking up is an instantaneous thing. Years of training from Godric—training which had turned into habit—caused me to assess my surroundings as soon as I woke up. It had been ingrained into me until it was an automatic survival response. However, I found that since Sookie had first taken my blood in Dallas, the first thing that I looked for was not potential danger. It was her.

For a total of thirty two months and twenty-three nights—taking into account the two times that she had been taken to the fairy realm—I had not been able to feel Sookie when I woke up. So sensing her now—with both the bond and my own fingertips when I awoke—was a blessing which I would never take for granted. As soon as I knew she was with me and safe, I stretched out my senses to make sure there were no threats lurking within my considerable range. There was nothing in the woods except the peace of the coming night and various forms of wildlife—none of it Were.

I felt myself relax fully.

I was still in Sookie's arms and she was snoring lightly, as she did every time she slept on her back. The sound made me smile and lulled me as much as her heartbeat did.

I was happy to stay as I was until she woke up, though I may have hurried things along—just a little—by moving my fingers in wide strokes around her belly and lightly kissing her beautiful breast, which had been my pillow throughout my sleep.

So sue me! My wife was fucking beautiful.

Plus, I had promised her kisses, and I had her whole body to keep my promise to. I was a vampire of my word―after all.

She moaned a little in her sleep. "Eric?" she sighed my name as a question.

"Sookie?" I returned.

"Ready for your surprise?" she asked sleepily.

"Oh yes," I growled a little, as I continued raining gentle kisses over her breasts.

"Are you prepared?" she asked in a teasing voice as she woke up a bit more. She gasped as she tangled her fingers into my hair and pulled my lips to her nipple. Never one to deny my bonded a kiss, I swirled my tongue around the taut peak before taking it fully into my mouth and sucking gently.

"Oh yes," I repeated in answer to her question, as I was tantalized by her other nipple; I quickly pulled it between my lips just as I had done with its compatriot.

"Well I'm _not_," she giggled lightheartedly, as she sat up, taking me with her. She giggled again at my crestfallen look as my lips fell from her nipple with a slight pop.

"I'm gonna go take a shower, and _you_ are gonna make my dinner," she ordered me.

Her tone did not help my erection to go away. Not. At. All.

"Am I?" I asked, matching her teasing.

"Yep," she said with certainty. "You brought stuff for pancakes the other day—right?"

I had learned how to flip a mean pancake from Lafayette. "Yes," I answered.

"Then hop to, Buck-o."

I chuckled. "Fine, woman. I will feed you."

I stood up naked as the day I was born and walked toward the door of our bedroom, but when I saw Sookie's _look_—a look I understood too well as the one that demanded some modesty from me—I grabbed some boxer-briefs out of the dresser and put them on. I gave her a wink before moving to the door. "You want bacon?" I asked over my shoulder.

"What do you think?" she asked saucily.

Yep—my cock heard _that_ tone too. My underwear didn't stand a fucking chance.

"How many pieces?" I asked.

"Three," she said. "Thank you," she added sweetly.

I mumbled something about unreasonable wives not even letting their husbands kiss them all night long and then went to work carrying out my wife's bidding. After all—I comforted myself—she would need to have her energy for the workout I planned to give her.

* * *

I was pulling out the frying pan to get started on her meal when I heard the shower turn on. I was tempted to ditch her meal and join her in the shower, but my instincts told me that the surprise she had for me was important to her, so I sighed resignedly and started the bacon instead.

Lafayette had taught me how to use the bacon grease to help flavor the pancakes, so I let the fatty meat fry as I prepared the pancake batter just as Lafayette had trained me to do. Hunter liked this particular food too and often craved it at night instead of at his breakfast time—when it was customarily consumed. And since I had been making many of Hunter's evening meals for a while now, I had made _many_ a "flapjack" for my son. As it turned out, Sookie was just as fond of the food and had been pleasantly surprised that I had learned to prepare other meals as well. I enjoyed providing for my son and now my wife in such a way.

Since her return, Sookie had taken over the preparation of three of Hunter's dinnertime meals each week, while I continued to make two of them. I found that I enjoyed helping Sookie on the nights she was in charge of the meal; I was learning from her, and we worked well together as we performed this domestic task. At her insistence, Sookie had also resumed much of the cleaning for our home. I smiled when I thought of the sheets that had been dried in the sun, which she had ready for us on her second night back in this realm. She had also smelled very strongly of the sun that day.

Lafayette had offered to take a pay cut since his duties had been virtually cut in half after Sookie's return. However, Sookie and I had refused, assuring him that we still needed his help when we had larger gatherings. Plus, he still prepared many of Hunter's and Sookie's daytime meals. With his extra time, Lafayette had briefly considered going to college with Sookie, but then had decided to start a garden instead. With Claude's help, Lafayette was already beginning to plant seasonal vegetables for the meals of those on the _ætt land_. The work seemed to satisfy him very much. And I liked the fact that Hunter and Sookie's diets would become even healthier because of Lafayette's efforts. Of course, as I warmed some maple syrup for Sookie's pancakes and took the greasy bacon out of the pan, I recognized that not every meal had to be healthy.

* * *

One of the advantages of being a vampire was the ability to perform tasks quickly. So I had the kitchen put back to rights, a big pile of pancakes made, and crispy bacon waiting in a warm oven when Sookie wandered into the kitchen, wearing only one of my T-shirts and a smile. She looked hungry, and that look made me hungry too.

Reading my lust through our now even more potent bond, she grinned at me. "Warm yourself a TruBlood, Vampire. It's not _quite_ time for me to be your dinner yet."

I pouted a little. "Fine," I said before doing just that and then joining her at the little table so that we could share our meal together. If we had been at home, Hunter would have been with us. A text confirming my son's safety and wellbeing had arrived from Batanya while I was cooking, so I was able to enjoy my time with my bonded without worry.

"You remembered the strawberries," she said as she took a bite of her food.

"You and your strawberries; Hunter and his blueberries," I bemoaned teasingly.

"We like what we like," she said as she took a bite.

I think that I moaned as she moaned around her fork. No—I was sure of it.

"Go take a shower," she ordered when she felt my lust rising again, this time due to the sounds she was making as she ate the food that I had prepared for her. My lust—as well as my cock—rose even more at the commanding tone of her voice.

She took another bite and, once again, she moaned. Her eyes held mine as she licked her fork.

I growled. Now I was certain. My minx was trying to cause the true death of me—one tease at a time.

What I way to die!

I leaned in toward my bonded, looking to kiss her plump lips and get a taste of strawberry.

She responded by putting a hand on my chest and keeping me at bay. "Nuh-uh, Mister. You need to go pretty yourself up for me." Her tone was all business, even as her eyes shone playfully.

I felt her mirth in the bond—our new, improved bond as far as I was fucking concerned.

"I love it when you give me orders, wife," I purred, trying to lean in again.

"No you don't," she swatted my chest lightly. "_I'm_ following orders too."

I looked at her in question.

"_Hunter's_ orders," she said with a smile.

"Hunter?" I queried.

"Yes. But no more hints, or I'll be in trouble with your son," she insisted.

"_Our_ son," I said, as I finally succeeded in stealing my kiss. She tasted of strawberries and sweet maple, just as I knew she would.

"Eric," she said breathlessly as I released her. I could both see and feel that her control was wavering as her lust rose.

"Fine," I chuckled before finishing off my TruBlood in one gulp. "Have it your way, min kära." I tried to sneak another kiss.

Her skin reddening, she giggled and pushed me away.

I got up and, by habit, quickly rinsed out my bottle before setting it on the counter. I knew that Sookie would want to separate the recyclables from the other trash when we left. Both of us were invested in making sure the planet lasted as long as possible, after all.

My task finished, I came over to my wife and kissed her softly on the cheek.

"Scoot!" she ordered, giving me a little smack on the ass.

"You are _so_ bossy, wife," I grumbled playfully. I stole one final kiss from her lips before moving quickly to the bathroom. There was a note stuck to the mirror:

_Viking,_

_Can you be good?_

_Can you follow directions?_

_If so, you will get your surprise._

_Take a shower and then wait in the bathroom. _

_No coming out. No peeking. (No matter what you hear.)_

_More instructions will follow._

_-S_

I could not help but to smile at Sookie's words―as well as her penmanship. Thankfully, she was not the kind who put hearts over her i's or anything like that, nor was her handwriting rendered in perfect lines or exact letter formations as mine was.

It wasn't that I was anal about my own writing. It was just that I had learned with a quill, and those motherfuckers were unforgiving.

No—I loved Sookie's handwriting because it was like her: curvy and playful. There were certain letters that she seemed to "like" more than others, and she wrote those with a bit of a flourish. For instance, the "V" in "Viking" had an extra loop on it because she was having fun when she wrote it—perhaps experimenting with a letter she did not have occasion to write very often. And her question marks may as well have been winks at me. They too had a little extra looping and were quite a bit longer and wider than the letters in the sentences they ended.

I turned on the water in the shower, and finding it still warm from Sookie's recent usage, I stepped inside. I closed my eyes and imagined the look that must have been on my bonded's face as she had written her playful note. I would bet anything that she had been biting her bottom lip at the time, her eyes shining and her fingers absently tapping on the countertop as she came up with just the words she wanted to say.

Fucking beautiful.

As I quickly cleaned my hair and body so that I would be ready for my next set of instructions, I enjoyed feeling my mate's emotions. She was eager and happy. Through our bond and my senses, I could not help but to track her movements. Almost as soon as I had stepped into the shower, she went into the closet and began to move and then remove some items. I could not help but to wonder what she was doing. Previously, Sookie had left only a few items of clothing at the cabin—mostly warm things, which she had brought over in anticipation of our using the retreat during the winter. That was before she was taken to the fairy realm by Claudette. I sighed and expelled that fairy from my mind as I rinsed the shampoo from my hair.

On the other hand, I had quite a few clothes in the cabin. I had always kept a practical wardrobe in each safe house I owned. I knew that at any time, I might have to run, so I had cash and other essentials at the ready.

In the past, I generally had a few "not-so-secret" residences in which I spent just enough time to let people like Sophie-Anne _think_ they had found out where I rested and _imagine_ that they had the upper hand on me. I found that things like that were good for "diplomacy."

Of course, I always had a couple more residences that served as my actual resting places. In the past, only Pam had known of those, and she had been given a maker's command never to reveal their locations. However, not even Pam knew of the cabin's location, though—in the event of my true death—she would be given a letter by Cataliades with a series of clues that would lead her to it. The cabin had been my true haven in the area, and it was there that I had always kept the things that I wanted to make sure stayed the most secure. Sookie would consider the safe in the cabin's cubby to be a "keepsake" box. One of the things that I wanted to do before Sookie and I returned to the _ætt land_ was to show her the things that I kept in it, and there were other things that she and I needed to add to the safe as well—ghosts that I would no longer allow to haunt my wife with their presence in our home.

My serious expression turned into a smile as I listened to Sookie make a trip down to the cubby. She was obviously carrying something there, and she grunted a little bit under her burden.

"Need any help, lover?" I asked into the bond.

Sookie, who had been humming a tune—poorly I might add―seemed to be a little startled by my voice. I could almost imagine her looking around, ready to chastise me for sneaking a peek.

I heard her chuckle to herself. "It's gonna take some time to get used to the fact that we can talk like this." She giggled a little louder—also into the bond. It tickled.

I loved it.

"But I love it," I said to her with my smile tugging higher at my lips.

"Me too," she sighed. I could feel her earnestness as well as peace in our bond.

"So?" I asked. "Need any help? You know that I love it when you grunt, but I prefer that you do it when you are under me and I am. . . ."

"Stop right there, Mister!" she said scoldingly. I could imagine the lovely shade of red that was inflaming her cheeks. "No dirty talkin' in the bond! Oh—and I _don't_ grunt."

I chuckled. "Of course not," I said to her as I heard her enter the security code for the cubby. "Where are you going lover?" I asked.

"Stop bein' nosey and get clean!" she admonished me, though her emotions in the bond were playful.

"Will you promise to get me dirty again if I do?" I asked.

"Only if you behave and do what you're told, which includes you lettin' me get back to work!" she said spiritedly. She giggled a little, which I could both hear and feel in the bond now.

I really fucking loved our new bond!

"I shall behave, lover," I purred. "Until you tell me _not_ to behave—that is."

She chuckled again and went back to whatever "work" she was doing. It was not long before she was humming again. She had once told me in a fantasy that she could not carry a tune even if it were in a bucket with a lid on it. It turned out that fantasy Sookie had been a hundred percent right, but I loved to hear my mate humming or singing softly to herself anyway. She only did it when she was at her most content and feeling comfortable with herself, and I loved when she felt that way. And—because I was a selfish vampire—I loved it even more that she felt that way around me.

I smiled into the warm water before turning it off. I grabbed a towel and—as had always been my habit—started to dry my hair first.

I had had many of the same habits for a thousand years. There were some things that I had thought that I would be doing for a thousand more, but Sookie had changed many things for me; so had Hunter. I thought of how my resting habits had altered radically after I bonded with Sookie and then became Hunter's father.

For the first time in my life as a vampire, I had what humans referred to as a "permanent address"—a true home—where I felt safe enough to stay for a long period of time. Moreover, I did not give a fuck who knew its location either because I had powerful people that I trusted to keep me safe during the day. Plus—since I had an incredible wife—I knew that I could wake up in the day and fight for what I loved if need be.

Until Russell's Weres had killed my parents and sister there, my family's lodge had always felt like home to me. But after I cleaned my father's, my mother's, and then my tiny sister's blood from the wooden floorboards, that building never felt the same to me again. Their blood permanently stained the floor, even as their deaths had stained my heart. I felt my anger rise as I thought of Sookie having to complete a similar task after her grandmother had died. I had not been with her then; if I had been, she would not have had to clean Gran's blood from her kitchen floor. The fact that Compton did not take care of that task made me want to bring him back to life just so I could kill him again—this time much more slowly.

I felt concern from Sookie through our bond, and I realized that my anger had prompted her reaction. I sent her reassurance and love.

"Just memories, min kära," I said softly into the bond.

She did not probe further, nor did she ask what memories had angered me. Instead she simply sent me her love and then spoke it into the bond. "I love you, Eric."

I closed my eyes. "And I you, my Sookie."

As I finished drying myself, I returned to my reflections. For the first years of my existence as a vampire, Godric had felt like a god to me. I counted on his teaching for everything, but we had never stayed anywhere long enough to establish a home. In fact, Godric taught me never to get too comfortable in any one place. On the contrary, he trained me to move around a lot and to establish multiple locations where I could sleep for the day, even as he taught me never to fool myself into thinking that they were truly secure.

He had trained me how to survive, which I would forever be grateful for, but he had never taught me how to "rest."

Sookie had done that.

I wondered sometimes if Godric would approve of the fact that I had built a "nest." He had never endorsed the idea of them in his lifetime, though he had broken some of his own "rules" in his later years when he established a nest in Dallas. Of course, he did not really sleep there. On the night after his death before I returned to Shreveport, I had gone to his bombed-out nest and found the tunnel that led to his actual resting place. He had shared its codes with me before I begged him to stay alive.

I sighed. Godric would have certainly been skeptical about the amount of trust I placed in those around me—in humans and Weres and shifters and demons and witches and other vampires. Even fairies! But Sookie had taught me how to trust in others, even as she had taught me how to trust in love. After experiencing living at the _ætt land_ with Hunter and Sookie, as well as the others in our clan, I could not imagine going back to my solitary existence. I did not want to.

In fact, I had sold most of my safe houses in northern Louisiana during the previous two years. In addition to the cabin, I kept only my two most secure residences, since I had actually spent quite a bit of time in them. But I had plans to sell both of them as well. I intended to take Sookie to them soon so that we could pick out some of the artwork I had collected over the years to use in our home. I did not have a big art collection since I had never wanted to be encumbered by it if I ever had to leave a place quickly. But I did have some items that I enjoyed because of the memories wrapped up in them, and I wanted those to be in my home—now that I truly had one. I had just been waiting for my wife to return.

As I heard Sookie leave the cubby, I wrapped my towel around my waist since I had not bothered to bring clean clothing into the bathroom with me. A couple of minutes later, I heard my bonded's heartbeat close to the bathroom door. The sounds of her muffled giggles filled the air, as did the telltale sound of a note being slipped under the door. As soon as the piece of paper was halfway under, I bent down to take it. Sensing me there, Sookie teased me a little by keeping hold of the note for a moment. With my strength, I could have taken the scrap of paper easily, but I did not want to risk ripping it. Plus, I enjoyed Sookie's playful giggling too much. She did not say a word to me as she let the note go and stood up. I heard her scurrying from the room and prayed to the gods that the note would "order" me to chase after her. I opened the folded piece of paper.

_Husband,_

_Excellent obedience so far._

_Close your eyes and go down to the cubby._

_-S_

_P.S. No peeking on the way._

I chuckled, wondering what my bonded had in store for me next.

* * *

[_**A/N:**_ Happy New Year's Eve! I am wishing you all a wonderful 2013. I know from PM's that I've gotten from some of you that this last year has been fraught with sickness or loss and that you have used my writing to help you through. I hope to be able to continue to bring you stories in the new year, but I hope even more that your health and personal happiness will abound to the point that you don't "need" them (even though I hope you will continue to enjoy them all the same).

Thanks for the responses I got to the last chapter! As I flip the calendar over to another new year, I once more cannot help but to be thankful for the encouragement and love my readers have given me and the difference you have all made in my life.

I'll try to have the next chapter for you tomorrow or the day after; however, it may be slightly longer since I am going to a shindig tonight!

_**Next up:**_ The surprise continues to unravel.]


	13. Chapter 13: A Peek

**Chapter 13: A Peek**

_**EPOV**_

I did not even think about peeking as I dropped the wet towel on the bathroom floor—which I knew would rile my mate—and left the bathroom with my eyes closed tight. I was enjoying the game too much to cheat at it. However, I did walk slowly down the hallway and was rewarded for my efforts when I heard a gasp from Sookie and felt her lust rise in the bond. Her scent, as well as her quickened pulse-rate, made the ol' G.P. stand to attention. I chuckled to myself. It was too bad the "one-eyed monster" could not actually see.

"See something you like?" I asked with my eyes still closed and a smirk on my face.

"Nope," she said, popping the "P" in the word. "I see some_one_ I _love_. Now get your cute ass down to the cubby!"

I paused in the hall where the closet leading to the cubby was located. I _may_ have turned around and flexed said "cute ass" to give her a show. She was—I thought—overly fond of that part of my anatomy, but I was determined to use all of my advantages if I could get her into my arms faster. "Will you spank me if I disobey?" I asked.

Her desire ratcheted up and I heard her suck in a deep breath behind me.

"I've got to hold that contest," she muttered to herself.

"What contest would that be, lover?" I asked as I sensed her distraction in the bond.

"Butt contest," she sighed. "International. You'd win," she said in an almost dazed voice.

I chuckled heartily, breaking her from her apparent stupor. I did not peek to confirm it, but I was certain that my mate's eyes were wide and her cheeks were flushed because of her little "confession." I felt a flash of embarrassment shoot into the bond from her end, and I sent her my amusement. In truth, I had used my body to help me get what I had wanted for a millennium, but in that moment, I was just glad that it was to Sookie's liking.

Along with her mild embarrassment, I could still feel my wife's lust and indecision in the bond and knew that she was struggling over whether to finish whatever plans she had for me or to ditch them. I also knew that I would have to do very little to push her over the edge and that I could be pushing my cock into her warm body against the hall wall in moments if I did push her.

Decisions. Decisions. I sighed. I would be patient. I did not like the idea of Sookie's regret if she wavered from her plans.

And I really _did_ want my surprise.

I brought down my own lust and sent Sookie a burst of love through our bond. "I will see you soon, my lover."

With those words, I zipped down to the cubby and immediately felt a little burst of gratefulness from Sookie as her purposefulness returned. Moments later, I heard her humming again. Actually, it was as if she was humming right into the bond.

I kept my eyes closed for a minute more in order to enjoy the feeling of her song inside of me.

I honestly did not have words for the pleasure our transformed bond was giving to me. I had always been amazed by the feeling of both the fairy and the vampire bonds inside of me. Each of them had been so unique. Through the vampire bond, I had been able to sense my mate more sharply than I had ever felt Godric or even Pam. Through Sookie's emotions in our vampire bond, I felt as if I got to know both her and myself. The fairy bond had enabled me to feel that she was alive even when she was in a different realm, and it had allowed us to share some of our abilities with each other.

Yes. I had loved _both_ of our bonds.

However, there had been a disconnect between the two bonds. We had used them together at times, such as when we defeated Russell, but now that they were truly fused into one, there was no detachment—no distance between them. Our new bond was almost as fucking amazing as the woman I shared it with.

I heard myself sigh with happiness, and there was a grin on my face to go along with it. Pam would remind me that vampires did _not_ fucking grin, but with Sookie and Hunter around, I could not help it. And I did not want to either.

That did not mean, however, that I would not kill to keep the smiles on the faces of my son and my bonded. That I _had_ done. And that I _would_ do again—as many fucking times as necessary. My own smile stayed on my face. Sookie would not necessarily approve of it, but I did still enjoy a good battle. I had not killed indiscriminately since I gained control of my bloodlust more than 900 years before, but if my family were threatened, my sword _would_ see blood.

I opened my eyes and saw that Sookie had placed clothing on the bed in the cubby. There was also another note waiting for me.

_Sheriff,_

_Wear this and meet me upstairs at __exactly__ 9:00 p.m. _

_Don't be late._

_Or early._

_-S_

My fangs clicked into place. I fucking loved it when my mate took charge like this. I looked at the clock even though I already knew what it would say. It was exactly 8:27, which meant I had quite a bit of time to kill.

I looked down at the clothing she had chosen for me to wear. It was the best suit that I had in the cabin. The dark steel gray jacket and pants were cut slim—what Pam's fashion magazines called a "modern cut." I scoffed a bit; modern my ass. This cut of suit fit me almost exactly the way suits in the early 1960's had fit; the only difference was that it sat slightly lower on my hips. Still, I liked the style—much more than many of the "fashion" inclinations that I had been forced to adhere to in order to fit in with the times. I was just thankful that vampires had revealed themselves. That meant that I no longer had to look like a human; thus, my days of enduring ridiculous trends were done. Even _I _had found it difficult to make the top hat look good! And one of my height should _never_ be made to wear breeches and stockings! And the codpiece was _not_ pleasant for someone of my size! The G.P. seemed to duck a bit into my body at the memory of those torture devices. And I did not blame it one bit.

I patted my cock gently and promised that there would be no more codpieces in its future before I put on the comfortable boxer-briefs that Sookie had also laid out onto the bed. As I did so, I noted the other items Sookie had selected. She had paired the suit with a simple black button down shirt, black shoes, and black socks. I noticed that there was no belt. I smiled. She knew that I hated wearing a belt with a suit.

It was nice having someone who knew me so fucking well. Actually, it was more than nice.

* * *

_**SPOV**_

With a disgruntled grunt, I hung up Eric's sopping towel―which I knew he'd deliberately left on the floor. I felt a surge of amusement from him, which let me know that my husband knew _exactly_ what my grunt had been about. I couldn't help but to chuckle a bit. At heart, Eric was still just as playful as Hunter sometimes, a fact that I was very thankful for—despite the way he was always trying to get a rise out of me.

I slowly unzipped the slim garment bag that I had just removed from the larger bag Eric and I had brought to the cabin. I held my breath as I took "it" out of its enclosure and sighed with relief when I saw that it hadn't wrinkled much. That Pam sure knew how to pack a dress! I hung the garment on the bathroom door before turning on the shower, hoping the hot steam would eliminate the few wrinkles there were there.

I giggled. As a bonus, Eric would likely enjoy trying to figure out why I was running the shower again, given the fact that I'd already bathed. I loved giving him little mysteries to solve, and I knew that he loved it to. I was enjoying the feeling of his anticipation and intrigue in the bond.

I glanced at the clock on my cell phone and saw that I had a little less than thirty minutes to get everything together, so I picked up my pace. I plugged in Eric's hairdryer and turned it on low so that my hair wouldn't frizz. Thankfully, it had already dried a little while I'd eaten the delicious pancakes Eric had made for me. Hunter had declared that his daddy's pancakes were even better than his uncle Lala's were, and I couldn't help but to agree with that, especially when I factored in how damned hot my husband looked when he made them. Plus, he was _way_ more generous with the strawberries than Lala was.

It was hard to imagine the ruthless Sheriff of Area 5 being the same man that was so at ease with me in our kitchen as we prepared meals together, but he was. As I teenager, I had dreamed of having someone to share the intimate domestic spaces of my life with. And then I had all but given up on that dream because of my telepathy. But now I had _my_ man—a vampire better than any dream I had ever fathomed—and I intended to treasure him every day of our lives.

I sighed. Given our conversation the night before, I wondered when Eric and I would be able to get married in Louisiana according to human law. Part of me didn't really care. After all, we'd already been pledged according to Supernatural law. And—even more importantly—Eric was the husband of my heart. But there was still the little girl inside of me who had dreamed of wearing a beautiful dress and walking down the aisle to meet her prince. And there was still the teenager who had given up on any notion of fairy tales—or even a "normal" relationship for that matter. I wanted both of them to have their day. But more importantly, I wanted to exchange vows with Eric in front of our friends and family. I didn't _need_ a human wedding, but I wasn't going to feel bad about wanting one either.

Helping to plan Lafayette's wedding with him had reminded me of all the afternoons we had fantasized about being able to get married. At that point, neither one of us thought our fantasies could ever be real, but now they _could_ be—were _going_ _to_ _be_. Part of me felt bad about the fact that Lala and Jesus had to go to another state to get married when Eric and I had the time to wait for change; however, Lala's being able to marry at all was a miracle, considering the way things had been when we were growing up. And I intended to celebrate that miracle.

Eric had talked to me a lot about his past since I'd been back home. And from his stories, I'd learned a very important truth. The world sometimes took a long time to change, even when that change was the "right" thing to do. However, it seemed to be equally true that good people in the world _would_ eventually force the "right" changes to happen when they finally pulled their heads out of their derrieres and fought for the rights of others and not just for themselves. And I could already see that happening in places like Massachusetts, where Lala and Jesus would be able to marry each other legally. I smiled when I thought about my friends' bubbling excitement over their upcoming wedding. There was so much love between them, and I was thankful that there was a place that would allow them to have a legal ceremony to express that love.

I pulled myself from my thoughts and checked my hair. Declaring it dry enough, Iset about arranging it into a simple messy bun. I wanted my neck to be bare for my bonded. I grinned into the mirror as I started putting on some light make-up. I had planned everything about my appearance tonight with Eric in mind.

Thanks to Eric's blood and the tan that I'd been working on since I'd been back in the human realm, I didn't need much make-up. I used to feel the need to apologize for my one "vice"—tanning—but now I no longer had to. Claude had assured me that the Sky Fae craved the sunlight and were strengthened by it; thus, I wouldn't be harmed by my "vice." I had happily lowered the SPF of my suntan oil from 8 to 2 after I'd heard that news.

I smiled even wider, thinking about how Hunter seemed to be a creature of both the day and the night. He too loved the sun—though I still made sure he was slathered in SPF 72 for now. However, he associated nighttime with his daddy being awake, so that was his favorite time of day. I didn't blame him one little bit. Nighttime had become my favorite too.

I brushed a little mascara on and finished my eye makeup with a bit of liner—both waterproof, of course. Then I added just a hint of rouge to bring out the color in my cheeks before putting on some red lipstick—smudge-proof, of course. However, from experience, I knew that by the end of the night, none would be left. No lipstick could withstand the prowess of the Viking's kisses, after all. But it would survive long enough to do what Hunter "required" of me and Eric. And I knew that my husband would also approve. After all, red was his favorite color.

With that in mind, I pulled out the red underwear that I had brought with me. Being careful not to mess up my hair, I slipped off Eric's T-shirt and then put on the cute little lace boy shorts and matching strapless bra. I sighed, knowing that the beautiful lingerie would likely not survive the night. Eric had been in a panty-ripping mood lately. Thankfully, he always took two hands to the task; otherwise, we would have had a problem! The chafing alone would have made me put the kibosh on his undie-ripping tendencies. However, even I could admit that he was damned sexy when he became so impatient that he felt the need to rip rather than to take two extra seconds to remove my panties the old-fashioned way. The thought of the look in his eyes when he got that impatient for me was enough to cause my own juices to flow.

I sighed and tried to shake away my lust. "At this rate, you'll ruin your own undies if you aren't careful," I chastised myself quietly.

"What was that, Lover?" Eric said loud and clear into the bond.

"Your bat hearing is scary sometimes," I said back to him. How my husband could almost make out my quiet mumbling from this distance—with the shower still on—was beyond me. Remembering the shower, I quickly checked the dress, and seeing that the wrinkles were adequately taken care of, I turned off the water.

He chuckled into the bond, which tickled a little. I couldn't help but to giggle back.

"I shall see you in twenty minutes, lover," he purred in a tone that was definitely not helping to keep my panties dry.

"Not if you don't quit bugging me," I chastised teasingly, though his reminder of the time got me moving into a faster gear.

I pulled my dress off the hanger and shimmied into it. The garment was one shouldered, which I knew would remind Eric of the night we'd pledged. More importantly, it was white with a red pattern of flowers across it, which I knew would remind him of the night we first met.

I was not one to want to rewrite history. As tempting as it might seem to think about, if I'd ditched Bill and fallen into Eric's arms the first night we'd met, who knew what may have happened? Would Eric have stayed intrigued past that first night if he'd not had to experience my initial rejections? Would I have fallen in love with him? Would we have Hunter?

The potential ramifications of going back to that night and starting over were too great to even imagine, and Gran had not raised me to be the kind of woman who wanted to imagine them either. "One does not start over," Gran used to say to me. "One picks up right from where he or she left off and moves along—with grace, of course."

I sighed heavily. The one "what if" that probably would always haunt me was whether Gran would still be alive if I had made different choices. I knew that she wouldn't approve of my regret, but I still wondered sometimes. Mostly, however, I just wished that she was still with us. She would have loved Eric, and she would have doted on Hunter.

"You okay?" Eric asked quietly into the bond so as not to startle me this time. Certainly, he must have sensed my sudden melancholy.

"Just memories," I said, repeating Eric's words from earlier.

He seemed to sigh into our bond before he answered the way that I had answered before. "I love you, Sookie." I felt a matching burst of love through our bond.

"And I you," I answered. "So much."

He sent me a surge of comfort through our bond, and I inhaled deeply, as if breathing in his gift to me. Truthfully, it was his desire to care for me—to love me—that made me expel the regrets from my mind.

I exhaled my deep breath and looked into the mirror with satisfaction as I put on my carved pendant. I added the earrings that Niall had given to me about a month before. The beautiful jewelry had originally been made for Viola, my great-grandmother. Niall had held onto the earrings as a reminder of Viola's fire, but had passed them along to me, saying that I was now all the reminder he needed of his bonded's spark. I brushed away a sudden tear as I thought of how much my great-grandfather's words had meant to me.

Thankful for waterproof makeup, I blew upward in order to dry more threatening tears and studied the earrings for a few moments. They really were lovely. They'd been made in Faerie, and their unique design reflected that. A long, curved hook―that looked to be made out of gold―kept the jewelry in my ear lobes; however, the metal was lighter than gold, and the earrings weighed next to nothing even though they were much larger than the simple studs that I usually wore. At the top there was a chain made of the same gold-colored metal as the post; the chain connected to a circular piece that held dozens of little ruby-like gems. The red in the jewelry matched perfectly the red in my dress.

Finishing my study of the beautiful jewelry, I grabbed some lavender oil and rubbed a little onto my wrists and neck. Given the strength of his nose, Eric didn't care for most perfumes, but he did enjoy natural essences. Luckily, lavender was both of our favorite. I smoothed my hair one last time and then looked at the intimidating red Jimmy Choo's that Pam had insisted would go perfectly with the dress. When I'd first tried on the four-inch Mary Jane heels two days ago, I almost toppled over, but I'd been practicing, and I had to admit that they were beautiful. They were red and glittery, but the glitter looked more like a lace pattern, and they did go perfectly with the dress, a fact that Pam was probably still gloating about. Plus, the heels were so tall that they would make me a little closer to Eric's height. I giggled to myself and felt mirth returned to me through the bond.

"Sixteen minutes, my lover," Eric said to me through our wonderful "new" bond.

I sent him a burst of love back.

I had no idea what kind of magic within the daggers had forged our two distinct bonds into one new one, but I was over-the-moon thankful for it. What we had now felt like what our bonds always _could_ have been before. Maybe, they were just waiting for us to be ready before they could merge into one.

I wasn't about to begin questioning the magic that had fused our bond, however. I was simply grateful for it, and I knew better than to look a gift horse in the mouth. I also knew better than to doubt the kinds of power Eric and my love could achieve.

Deciding to hold off on putting on my imposing shoes until the last minute, I grabbed them and my phone so that I could keep track of the time, though I expected that my anxious vampire mate would continue giving me the countdown through the bond.

I headed back out to the living room and quickly folded the blankets from our pallet before turning my attention to setting up the tripod and camera as Molly had taught me to do two nights before while Eric had been fitted for his tuxedo for Lafayette and Jesus's wedding. I _may_ have had something to do with the timing of that fitting.

I smiled as I thought of Hunter's involvement in the "plan" that I was now hatching.

* * *

[_**A/N:**_ Good news! I went to a New Year's party last night and woke up without a hangover—despite the champagne consumed! So you get a chapter today!

_**Resolutions**_: No more cliffhangers! No more teasing in stories! (Oh—who am I kidding?)

If you are interested in "seeing" what Eric's suit and Sookie's dress, etc. look like, visit this chapter on my WordPress site, which you can find at californiakat1564 . wordpress . com

Thanks for all the wonderful messages and reviews from the last several chapters.

_**Note:**_ No codpieces or panties were actually hurt or ripped in the writing of this piece.

_**Next up:**_ Hunter's plan/surprise for Eric is _finally_ revealed. I'll try to have the next chapter ready tomorrow or the next day!

**HAPPY NEW YEAR**!]


	14. Chapter 14: A Prom?

**Chapter 14: A Prom?**

_I smiled as I thought of Hunter's involvement in the "plan" that I was now hatching. _

About a week before, Eric and I had told Hunter of our idea to spend a few nights at the cabin. We had wanted to make sure that we gave him plenty of notice. For one thing, Eric and I needed to know that Hunter was really okay with us being gone for a while because the last thing we wanted to do was upset him. We'd both agreed that if Hunter was genuinely frightened by the notion of us being away, we'd postpone the trip. After all, it had been less than two months since Russell had taken Eric—less than two months since Hunter had been afraid that he would never see his daddy again.

Although Hunter was clearly somewhat nervous about the thought of either Eric or me being away from him—especially Eric, whom Hunter still watched over like a hawk—the beautiful and unselfish boy recognized that we needed "alone time." And he insisted that we go on what he immediately began calling our "play-date."

I grinned as I thought about the day after Eric and I had told Hunter that we were going to the cabin.

While his daddy had slept, Hunter pulled me into his room; gave the cutest possible "covert" signal to Batanya, who immediately ensured that the house was "clear"; and then told me about his and Emma's plan to make sure that his daddy and I had fun on our "play-date," which—in Hunter's mind—was inextricably linked to the concept of "dating" in general.

That's how I found out that every single one of Hunter and Emma's "play-dates" was actually a "date" in the kids' minds, though their actions during these "dates" were as innocent as one might expect from a seven-year-old and an eight-year-old. Regardless, I was pretty sure that Sam wouldn't like the idea that Hunter already considered himself to be "dating" little Emma, and I sure as heck wasn't going to be the one to break that news to him.

I sighed as I finished setting up the camera. Before Hunter told me the details of his plan, his little face had tensed up, and he asked me if I thought he was a "scaredy cat." Frankly, I'd been dumbfounded by his question. When I asked him why he would think that he was a "scaredy cat," Hunter told me that he was worried his daddy might be taken away by a bad vampire again. It was then that I realized that Eric and Hunter both had the same fear welled up inside of them. Eric was fearful that I might be taken away from him again, and Hunter was concerned that his daddy might disappear from his life.

And—in true Northman form—both of them were trying to push down their fears.

I sighed again. After his confession of his fears, I had taken Hunter into my arms and held him close. I told him that he was the bravest little boy I had ever met, and I let him see the truth of my words by opening my mind to him. I also told him that it was okay to be scared of losing the ones that we loved. I assured him that I was scared sometimes—and even his daddy was scared of losing Hunter and me. I told him that everyone who loved someone had those same fears—that they were natural and that they did _not_ make someone a "scaredy cat." I also told him that his daddy and I would do everything we could to keep our family safe. Finally, I offered to postpone Eric and my getaway for a while.

However, Hunter wouldn't have that. I heard from his surface thoughts that my words had made him feel better about the fact that he was a little apprehensive. He insisted that he wanted Eric and me to go; he just made me swear that his daddy and I would be safe and that we would protect each other. In fact, he even offered to send all "his" guards with us.

I reassured Hunter that his daddy and I would be safe and in a secret place. I also guaranteed him that I would blast anyone who tried to take Eric from us; that thought seemed to dispel Hunter's fears.

After our heart-to-heart exchange, Hunter made me promise not to tell his daddy about his anxieties, especially now that his fears had been alleviated. Hunter—it seemed—understood Eric almost as well as I did. We both knew that Eric wouldn't leave the _ætt land_ if he thought that Hunter was even a little fearful. Knowing that I would have to be able to keep some of Hunter's confidences if I was going to be the mother he needed me to be, I agreed not to tell my mate, but I made Hunter promise that he would call me if he wanted us to come home. I assured him that we could come at any time—whether it was day or night—if he needed us.

After that, Hunter had been comfortable with Eric and I going away for a couple of nights—a fact which I had quickly double-checked in his head.

In fact, Hunter soon let me know that he and Emma had spent the better part of that morning talking on the phone about Eric and my "play-date," and they had decided on what we _had_ to do in order to make it special.

I admit that I was nervous as heck and had my shields up as tight as I could get them because I didn't want Hunter to know what I had already planned to do with and to Eric in order to make things "special" for him. I was also worried that Hunter had picked up ideas of an "adult" nature from someone's head, and I was already preparing to chastise the culprit. However, it turned out that I had been nervous for no reason.

Hunter had been so serious—and so cute—when he'd told me about his and Emma's idea for our "play-date" that I'd almost laughed out loud. But then I realized that I loved the kids' suggestion, so I quickly agreed to go along with it.

Basically, Hunter had decided that what his daddy and I really needed to do was to have a prom! Apparently, Emma had learned about the concept of proms from a classmate who had an older sister, and from there, Hunter and Emma were off to the races. To convince me that it was the best plan, Hunter pointed out how happy Eric and I looked in the picture he had of us dancing after we'd pledged. It _had_ been a fabulous night, and I _did_ love dancing with Eric, so I let the kids take over.

The Sunday before, while Eric had been at Fangtasia conducting Area 5 business, there had been a "meeting" at Thalia's residence. Emma had brought along her mother, and Hunter had brought along Pam, who had—in the space of one evening—read seemingly everything there was to know about proms. With Hunter, Emma, and Pam at the helm, I was just along for the ride—so to speak. Heck, I counted myself lucky that I had even been invited to the meeting!

Hunter and Emma had a list of things that they knew about proms, but since Hunter liked the idea that the whole thing would be a surprise for his daddy, they had to scrap some of the traditions that might have given the plan away, like decorations and a prom theme. Secretly, I was thankful that those things were off the table, especially when I saw the glint in Pam's eyes when Luna mentioned that her own prom's theme had been "Under the Sea."

However, what couldn't be scrapped—apparently—was the concept of the prom dress. Thankfully, I was able to talk a very excited—and, therefore, pushy—Pam out of a "traditional" prom dress. The last thing I wanted was something that looked like it belonged on a teenager or a bridesmaid. That's when Pam asked if I still had the dress I wore the first time I came to Fangtasia. Although I didn't because of the Maenad's "visit," an idea was born, and we all scoured the Internet looking for a dress similar to that one. Of course, the catch was that it would have to be available from somewhere that could get the dress to me quickly. Luckily, thanks to Thalia's state-of-the-art computers, we found the perfect dress, which the adorable Emma announced was even more perfect because it already came with its own flowers.

With a very serious look, Hunter had nodded at Emma's proclamation and crossed off "dress" and "flowers" from his list, which was a very good thing since carrying live flowers to the cabin would have alerted Eric to the fact that something was up.

The dress and "flowers" found, music became the next topic of discussion. Hunter was actually a tremendous resource there. Hunter—for lack of a better word—was a giant sponge, and he knew of several "dancing songs" that his daddy liked. Apparently, Eric had been teaching Hunter about different genres of music during the time they spent employed in their woodshop. The winter before, they had pulled out Gran's old record player and had listened to quite a few of her old records, which provided a couple of items for the playlist. Hunter reported that the song "This Never Happened Before" by Paul McCartney was the one that always seemed to remind his daddy of me. We also added "Something," which had been one of Gran's favorite Beatle's songs. Bubba's song, "Can't Help Falling in Love," had to be included since he'd sung it to Eric and me on the night of our pledging. To those we added Ella Fitzgerald's "Someone to Watch Over Me," which was also Hunter's suggestion, and Norah Jones's "Come Away with Me," which Luna really loved. Emma's contribution was Taylor Swift's "Today Was a Fairy Tale," which I hadn't been familiar with, but was a cute song. Thinking it was appropriate for Eric and my story, I also added The Pretenders' "I'll Stand B You." Pam's suggestion, "Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye, was added _after_ the kids had gone to sleep.

The cutest part was that Hunter seemed to be taking mental notes of all the songs that Emma mentioned liking. I had only been around Hunter and Emma for a few weeks, but I could already tell that they were just as much soul mates as Eric and I. Their personalities meshed perfectly, and they both accepted each other's differences as if they were nothing. And Hunter respected Emma—maybe more than anyone else besides Eric. He listened to every single one of her words, but I never felt his mind stretch out to listen to her thoughts as I felt him do with others. Simply put, though he was only seven and she was only eight, the two of them loved each other. And if I were the sort of person who bet on things, I would say that their staying together was a pretty sure thing.

"What about pictures, Mamma?" Hunter had asked me after the songs had all been chosen.

I'd had to work very hard to keep my tears at bay. That had been the third time that Hunter had called me "Mamma," and he didn't even seem to know he was doing it. Luna and Pam had both given me knowing looks, though neither of them had said a word. I hadn't either, though I swear that Emma had given me a wink, even as she'd kissed Hunter on his cheek. At age seven, one might have expected for Hunter to wipe off that kiss, but he seemed to celebrate it, though he reddened noticeably. Emma had given me a smile that let me know that she was on my side and that she thought I was a worthy mother for her guy. For some reason, gaining her approval had meant a lot to me. But having Hunter think of me as his mother—even on an unconscious level—had meant the world.

Even as I had been grinning from ear to ear because of Hunter's new "name" for me, Hunter and Emma were contemplating how to get proper prom pictures. As excited as Hunter was about planning the "play-date" that would make his daddy happy, he seemed disappointed that he wouldn't get to see us dancing. And he was worried that we wouldn't be able to get a "prom" picture of Eric and me. Hunter wanted one to put on his shelf of family pictures.

Seeing that worried look on his face, I'd wanted to do even more than just give him a picture.

That's when we'd enlisted Molly into our little confederacy to help us in the audio-visual department. At first, I figured that I could videotape Eric and me dancing a little. That way, Hunter could watch it later, and we could capture some still images from the video for Hunter's pictures.

But Molly had suggested something even better. She'd developed a more sophisticated and secure version of Skype which she assured would be easy enough for even me to use. When Hunter had realized that he would get to talk to and see Eric and me live, he got even more excited than he had been. Talking to us would work to reassure him of our safety and would give him the chance to share our "prom" a little bit.

Smiling at the memory of Hunter's excited face, I held my breath and said a little prayer as I opened the tiny laptop Molly had given me. Thankfully, after the young vampiress had determined that my experience with computers was limited to surfing the Internet and using a word processor, she declared me "helpless" and made things so easy that even a cavewoman could do it—so to speak. Immediately, the little machine came to life without any additional help from me. Hopefully, the whirs it was making meant that it was doing what Molly had set it up to do: find a signal and connect to the encrypted wireless router (whatever that was) that Molly said Eric would have in the cabin.

"Fuck!" I exclaimed loudly as the machine prompted me for a password. Molly had warned me that that would happen. When I'd asked her earlier if there was some kind of password-breaking thingy she could use, she'd rolled her eyes and reminded me that it was Eric who had arranged for the system in the cabin. I took that as a "No."

"Was that an invitation?" Eric voice sounded in the bond.

"Huh?" I responded.

"To _fuck_, lover," he purred. "There are still seven minutes to go, but I could be persuaded to join you now."

"Actually," I said seductively into the bond, "I need something else from you."

"I will give you _anything_ you require," he said throatily.

I bit my lip and felt his lust. "I need the password to the router so that I can access the Internet," I said, parroting the phrase that Molly had made me memorize.

"Huh?" It was Eric's turn to say the inelegant line.

"The password to the router?" I repeated.

"Why is that, Lover? And did I hear a piece of computer equipment power on a few moments ago."

"Bat ears," I muttered out loud.

He chuckled. "May I know _why_ you need it?"

"You may—in just under seven minutes," I said firmly.

"Fine," he relented. "You ready?"

"Uh-huh," I said, my hands poised over the keyboard.

"It has numbers and letters in it; all the letters are uppercase."

"Got it," I said turning on the caps lock.

"Q-7-3-R-4-E-1-2-9-R-M-J-1-6-T-C-A-3-5-9."

"How do you remember stuff like that?" I asked as he finished the code.

He chuckled into the bond. "I will see you in six minutes, Lover, and I will show you what else I remember."

Yep—those words guaranteed that my panties would be wet before I even saw him. My lust was forgotten for a moment, however, as I celebrated the tell-tale sounds of Molly's system working. As soon as the Internet hook-up occurred, the little machine caused the camera I'd set up to hum, just as Molly said it would. I pulled a side-table out a little to set the laptop on. All I would have to do now was click on the icon Molly had showed me, and the machine would "call" Hunter, who would be waiting at his computer at exactly 9:15. Then Eric and I would be able to talk to him. One more button would then make the camera motion-sensitive so that it could follow us while we danced so that Hunter could watch for a while. I'd just have to make sure that the camera got turned off before we did more than dancing.

Hunter did _not_ need to see that—ever!

I knew that going through all this was a lot to do just to ensure that Hunter got a "prom" picture of Eric and me, but I knew there was more to it too—a lot more. First and foremost, Hunter wanted to make sure his daddy had something special, and I couldn't blame him. Hunter might not have the bond with Eric that I did, but he could read Eric's emotions in his eyes almost as well as I could.

And—truth be told—Eric was still reeling from the trials of the last several years. I could feel that the long periods of time while I was in Faerie had taken their toll on my mate, especially during the months when Claudette's curse had numbed the fairy bond to the point that Eric could no longer feel me at all. I had felt the emptiness caused by that curse for only a few hours; for Eric, it had been much, _much_ worse.

Then, there had been what happened with Russell Edgington. I knew that Eric was still dealing with the fact that Russell had tortured and violated him. I took a deep breath. Russell had raped him. My husband was an incredibly strong individual, and he wasn't allowing Russell's sins to affect his actions or choices, but I knew firsthand that some things couldn't be overcome quickly or easily.

And added to all those stresses were the things that Eric did every night of his life. He worried about Hunter's happiness and safety. He worried about my happiness and safety. He monitored the security of everyone on the _ætt land_ and in Area 5 in a way that I would have never understood or truly appreciated unless I'd seen him do it—_felt_ him do it.

He put the weight of our family's wellbeing and care onto his shoulders, and I loved him for it, but I wanted to see more lightness in his eyes, and I was sure that was what Hunter wanted too. That was why it was so important to Hunter that Eric and I had this time apart—despite the fact that he too was anxious. That wonderful, special little boy intuited that his daddy needed something that had been planned just for him—something _fun_ and away from his everyday responsibilities.

I smiled as I lit the candles placed around the room. Although I tried to keep out of Hunter's head, sometimes his thoughts shot out of him with the force of a cannon. All he wanted was to see Eric—and now me—happy. He'd accepted me into his and Eric's routine like I'd always been a part of it. Hunter trusted me to take care of his daddy and to make him happy.

And my heart was full of joy because of that trust.

So—yes—maybe using military-grade communication equipment to allow Hunter to talk to us on our "prom night" and to see us dance a little may have been a bit excessive. After all, we could have just had our "prom" on a night when we were at home with Hunter, but _our_ little boy wanted it to be special for us. So—by God—I wanted it to be special for him too.

I wanted for him to see his parents happy and dressed up. I wanted for him to see us dancing to the tunes he had picked out and to know that he had been greatly responsible for the smile that I was sure was about to be on Eric's face. I wanted him to see what two parents in love looked like so that he could treat his little Emma just as good as Eric treated me. I hadn't been able to see such an example when I was growing up. My mother's thoughts were always jealous when it came to my father, and her actions seemed meant to steal his affections away from his children more than to indicate love. I had, however, heard about enduring love from Gran. And that was what I wanted Hunter to see.

Of course, Hunter did _not_ need to see the plans I had for Eric later. And he certainly didn't need to know about the lacey red underwear I had on underneath my "prom" dress. And he didn't care about the shoes I was finally putting on. His instructions to me had been simple: to look pretty, to smell nice, to hold his daddy's hand, and to dance—a lot.

It seemed like a brilliant plan to me.

"One minute," I heard from Eric through the bond as I looked around excitedly. Given the lust and anticipation building from his end of the bond, I decided to wait to turn on the camera, just in case Eric came in and "attacked." I took a deep breath as I felt my husband approaching.

* * *

[_**A/N:**_ Hello! I hope that you don't find the concept of a "prom" to be too cheesy. This idea actually sprang from a talk I recently had with my eleven-year-old nephew, who asked me what proms were when his "girlfriend" asked him to be her prom date. Now, I know that sixth grade is a bit early to procure a prom date, but my nephew's "girlfriend" obviously wants to be prepared. LOL.

After that talk, I started thinking about what I seven-year-old Hunter might imagine to be a good "play date," and then I thought about the dancing that Hunter and Emma will do during Eric and Sookie's wedding (in _CBTM_), and this idea was born. Hunter (and Emma) _insisted_, and since Hunter has become one of my favorite characters to write about, how could I resist him.

Thanks for continuing to read! I appreciate it! I think that I actually found time to respond to all the reviews that I got for the last chapter, but if I forgot anyone, thanks so much for writing in!

There's a link to my prom playlist at my wordpress site if you are interested (californiakat1564 . wordpress . com).

On a side note, I have been doing some work on the third story for the _Back & Forth_ series, and it is so angsty right now that editing this little piece is giving me an awesome break.

_**Next up:**_ Eric's POV. I'll try to have the next chapter tomorrow or the next day.]


	15. Chapter 15: Of That I Am Afraid

**Chapter 15: Of That I Am Afraid**

_Hunter's instructions to me had been simple: to look pretty, to smell nice, to hold his daddy's hand, and to dance—a lot._

_It seemed like a brilliant plan to me. _

"_One minute," I heard from Eric through the bond as I looked around excitedly. Given the lust and anticipation building from his end of the bond, I decided to wait to turn on the camera, just in case Eric came in and "attacked." I took a deep breath as I felt my husband approaching._

* * *

_**EPOV**_

As I left the cubby and stepped into the hallway, I inhaled deeply; Sookie had worn lavender oil, and that—mixed with her usual scent—enthralled me as always. I felt my lust escalating.

I wanted her flesh. I wanted her blood. I wanted her adoration. I wanted her love. I wanted everything from her. Everything! Being in her presence always made me feel _more_ _vampire_ than I had ever felt during my long existence, and the vampire wanted to feed from his mate.

However, I paused for a moment in order to calm my "appetites." Sookie had also brought to the forefront something else within me to sit alongside my vampiric nature. Perhaps it was my long-forgotten humanity, but, ironically, it felt more primal than that—more animalistic in a way. It was the need to protect and to nurture what was mine.

Devour and shelter. Consume and defend.

These were the contradictory impulses that my mate stirred within me. The dark and the light. The violent and the restrained. The fact that she knew of this—that she knew of _all_ the parts of me and still wanted to be mine made me stand taller than I had ever stood. Feel stronger than I had ever felt.

So I calmed myself.

Sookie had obviously wanted me to dress like this for some reason, and I could feel her excitement and nervousness in the bond. I was not going to ruin her surprise by "attacking" her—at least not until she asked me to.

However, when I saw her, all internal promises about self-control immediately left the fucking building. I stopped in my tracks, and I half-groaned and half-growled at the vision in front of me. Both my fangs and my cock reacted as well, and I suddenly regretted the tight cut of my trousers.

I was predator. She was prey. I was ready to stalk her and take her into me.

However, she kept me where I was with both the calm she sent into the bond and the well-placed force-field she erected around my body. I was panting. She was smiling.

She was fucking perfect.

And she was waiting for me to get control of myself again. However, her arched brow and the hand on her hip were _not_ helping her cause. Neither was her coy smile. She understood _very_ well the effect she was having on me. And she was enjoying it.

Perfect.

I steadied myself with a sigh and took in the beauty in front of me. She was standing in the middle of the living room in a curve-hugging dress that seemed a perfect blend of the one she wore for our pledging and the one she had on the first time I laid eyes on her. Defying logic, the dress managed to be both incredibly sweet and fucking sexy all at once. I should not have been surprised; that was the wonderful mix that had always been my mate.

"Perfect," I whispered out loud. In truth, that was the only word I could think of. I struggled a bit against the force field that she had enclosed me in, but it held me tight.

A feeling of lust from Sookie's side of the bond drew my eyes up to hers, but she was no longer looking back into mine. Her eyes were too busy roving down my body. Deciding she had a brilliant idea, I also allowed my gaze to drift downward until my eyes stopped at the four-inch red heels she was wearing.

I intended to fuck her in those heels; I intended to fuck her _well_.

"You look perfect, lover," I said seductively, hoping that the passion—and the promise—in my voice would encourage her to let me go so that I could see those heels a bit closer—for example, right next to my cheek as I pounded into her.

"So do you," she said coyly. She bit her lip and then used her force field to compel me to turn around in a slow circle. I felt her lust spike again as my back was turned to her. My progress stopped for a moment, and I knew that my wife was once more fixated on my ass.

"New trick, Lover?" I half-growled and half-chuckled. On the one hand, I hated not being in control of my body. On the other, I was very happy that my wife was. My all-consuming lust began to lessen somewhat as my amusement grew. That had probably been Sookie's plan all along.

Perfect.

"Claude and I have been working on it," she said as she spun me slowly around so that I was facing her again.

"Your turn?" I asked a bit roughly.

She gave me a sly smile and then turned in a little circle, her hips swaying suggestively. Her heels clicking against the wooden floor propelled my lust higher again.

Oh—yes—those shoes would _definitely_ be staying on her feet when I was next inside of her, which was exactly where I wanted to be. I would start by bending her over the back of the couch and then I would take her against the wall. Then I would drop to my knees and taste her until she screamed my name and her legs could no longer support her. Then I would sit her on top of me on the couch and let her ride me to her third—no fourth—orgasm. Plan in mind, I once more struggled against the force field, but it continued to hold me in place.

"Let. Me. Go," I said, my voice sounding pained to my ears.

She smiled coquettishly. "Why?"

"I need to fuck you. I need to taste you," I growled.

She giggled and shook her head, though her lust grew along with mine. She took a single step toward me.

And that was when I noticed the camera set-up, which her body had been hiding.

"Would you like to make a," I paused and leered at my mate, "_special_ video for our enjoyment, wife?" Immediately, she blushed a deep red. I was surprised, but also excited by the idea of a sex tape with Sookie.

After seeing the movie _Sex, Lies, and Videotape_ in the 1980's, Pam went through a phase where she wanted to film herself enjoying carnal acts. In fact, I was pretty certain that she tracked down a couple of that film's stars and seduced them into reenacting some of the scenes. However, I had never had the desire to make a video of myself fucking. What would I do with it? Watch it for the woman, whose name I probably did not even know? Admire myself? I had a big fucking ego, but my "self-love" had never gone that far. And I certainly did not need to watch such a tape to try to "improve."

However, the prospect of making a sex tape with Sookie was a whole different ballgame, and especially if it was something she wanted, I was all for it.

Her face still flaming as red as the flowers in her dress, Sookie put up her hand. "Down boy. We're not gonna make _that_ kind of video—not today at least." She bit her lip and then shook her head. "Probably not ever." She giggled a little nervously. "I think I prefer you live."

My eyebrow arched in question, I asked, "Then why the camera, Lover?"

"Well," she motioned around her, "I know it doesn't look like much, but you and I are at our prom."

"Prom?" I asked, trying to recall what one of those was. I felt my head tilting to the side as I motioned for her to explain.

Although she had yet to let me out of her force field, she closed the few remaining feet between us and placed a gentle kiss on my lips before grabbing my hand.

"It was Hunter's idea," she said, "and, well, Emma's too. She learned about proms from one of her friends, who has an older sister. And Hunter got it into his head that we needed a special date. He's got that picture of us dancing after the pledging, and his mind just ran with everything."

"A _prom_ is a dance for adolescent humans?" I asked for confirmation as I finally retrieved the word's meaning from the files of my brain.

My lust had dissipated sufficiently for Sookie to set my body free, and I pulled my mate into my embrace. "I want crazy Sookie as my date—_always_," I soothed as I breathed in her scent. Instead of enflaming me this time, her smell settled me. For now, the beast inside of me that wanted to pillage my mate was quieted.

She looked up at me with a bright smile and a giggle. I could feel her happiness at my words.

I could not help the smile that rose to my own lips as I thought about my son planning something like this.

"So," Sookie continued with a little shrug, "I don't have a sequined prom dress that I'd only wear once, but I thought you'd like this one."

"I do," I assured. "You look as beautiful as I have ever seen you, min kära."

"Sorry I had to hold you in a force field like that," she said, with another little giggle. "But I sort of wanted to keep this dress in one piece."

"Then you were very wise to hold me," I chuckled as I kissed the top of her head.

She gestured around the room. "We don't have a cheesy prom theme with cheesy decorations, but we do have candlelight. There aren't lots of couples around us sharing the dance floor, but we have music too." She grinned. "Hunter helped to pick that out too. And that," she said pointing to the camera, "is because he wants to have a prom picture of us."

I grinned. My son, it seemed, was a budding photographer and loved his pictures. "And the Internet connection?" I asked.

Sookie's smile became more muted though no less sincere or lovely. "He wanted us to have this special night so badly, but it was clear that he also wanted to share it with us a little. And I think he'll feel better if he can see us and know we're okay too, so Molly fixed it so that we can call him and talk to him, and then he can watch us dance for a little while." Her voice hitched. "He wants to see his daddy happy, Eric. He loves you so much."

Her eyes and the bond were telling me an incredible story in that moment. In them, I felt her love for me as always. But I also could feel her love for Hunter, and I could distinguish the emotion she felt for him from her others. It was a beautiful thing. And it also told me something that I _should_ have already picked up on before.

"Hunter is worried about me," I said quietly.

She nodded. "Yeah. And I'm worried too, Eric."

Her eyes were bright, and I knew she was close to tears so I sent comfort through the bond.

"Why, min kära? I am fine," I assured as I softly cupped her cheek.

"I know you're okay. But you're also still in pain; you had to live through so much because of Russell."

My skin crawled at the mere mention of Edgington's name, and I sighed deeply. Sookie was right. A few weeks before, she and I had spent several hours one night speaking about what had happened with Edgington and also about the other times that I had been raped during my long life. She had not pushed for the information; she had simply listened to what I said—what I _needed_ to say. And—as always—Sookie had accepted everything about me, even the bruised parts, with nothing but love in her heart.

"And there was also me being gone so long," she continued in a quiet voice.

I pulled her into me as my heart was gripped by a sudden fear. I did not like to think about the time she had been away from me. I could _not_ lose her again! I would not!

Immediately I felt Sookie's comfort in the bond, and I tried to push aside my fear. In truth, since she had been back from the fairy realm, I had avoided speaking to her or to anyone else about the time she had been away from me. I wanted to forget it.

Sookie sighed and caressed my cheek with her fingertips before lightly turning my chin until I was looking her in the eye. "Eric Northman, I love you with my whole heart," she said in barely a whisper. "And I can feel how much it hurt you when I was gone."

"I could endure Russell's torture night after night," I heard myself saying in a voice that did not quite sound like mine. "But I could not endure being away from you again." A shaky breath that I felt like I needed to take passed in and out of my mouth. "Not like that. Not ever again."

I did not even know that a tear had fallen from my eye until Sookie brushed it away with her thumb and brought it to her lips.

"I don't like your tears either, min bóndi," she said in an even quieter voice than before. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I can't even begin to understand the pain you endured because we were apart for so long."

"The physical pain was as _nothing_," I told her.

She gasped a little and brushed away another tear that I had not felt falling. "Eric, I know that you are trying to act like I was never gone. I know that that's what you _need_ to do in a lot of ways. I know you need to live for the now, and I love that you've helped me to fit seamlessly and immediately into your and Hunter's lives. I love the life you've built for everyone around us too."

The devotion and care that I felt from her in that moment stifled another shaky breath in my throat.

"You're workin' so hard to make sure we are all happy and safe—not just for now but for the future too. But," she paused, "I can still feel your fear."

I nodded. I could not lie to my bonded even if I wanted to. "I _am_ afraid. What if I lose you again? What if I lose Hunter?" I voiced my two greatest fears out loud for the first time as another haggard breath followed the words out of my mouth.

"Then you'll find us," she said with such simplicity and faith in me. "But," she said as she placed her hand on my chest over where my new scars were etched into my skin, "I don't think you and I will be able to get lost from each other now." She shook her head a little. "Every time I think about being away from you or from Hunter, I get scared too. It's okay to be a little scared about the future; our doin' that will help us to stay safe and to keep our little boy safe. But—if I've learned one thing from all this, it's that bein' scared of the past is not gonna help. What happened then will _not_ happen again, Eric. It couldn't."

I could not help but to feel pride in my mate as I looked into her beautiful brown eyes. For one so young, she said things of great wisdom. And she was right. I had been trying to hide from the pain I had felt during the past years—especially the pain at being without my bonded one. But hiding would not help me. She was also right that I should not be afraid of the past. The fear of ghosts and "what if's" would do me no good. I closed my eyes and felt something shift in me as her words and her touch and her light all worked together to heal me.

"I missed you so fucking much," I said as I opened my eyes. This time, I felt the tear that fell down my cheek.

"I know," she answered.

"I barely held it together. Without the others around me—without Hunter," I stopped midsentence.

"I know," she said again.

"I felt weak. I felt powerless," I admitted in a low tone as another tear fell.

"I know."

"I _was_ weak. I _was_ powerless," I corrected my previous words.

"Yes," she said. "In some things, you were. But in the important things, you weren't weak or powerless at all. Despite all the odds, you kept your faith in me and in us. And you took care of Hunter better than anyone else could have. _Everything_ you could do, Eric—you _did_ do! And it was _enough_. It will _always_ be enough. _You_ will always be enough!"

My mate's expression was heated with emotion; she was a beautiful fire.

"Okay," I said simply.

She smiled. "All Hunter and I will ever need is you, Eric. I know that you expect perfection from yourself, and you come pretty darned close most of the time, but you have been taking too much onto those shoulders of yours."

"I cannot help it," I admitted, feeling myself return her smile.

"I know." She shook her head. "You're gonna keep on puttin' Hunter and me first. I get that! And I love it. But you need to know that we're doin' the same thing right back at you. All I want is for you to take off a little bit of the fear you've been feelin'. The past will not be the future, Eric. I promise."

After a few moments, I nodded even as I felt the truth of her words and the depth of her concern. "What did I ever do to deserve someone like you?" I asked as I drew her into my arms.

"The same thing I did to deserve you," she chuckled. "Nothing." She paused, "And everything!"

I bent down to give her a little kiss.

She looked up at me with glistening eyes. "You ready for our prom?"

I chuckled and nodded. She moved out of my embrace and toward the computer. Since our hands were linked, I followed along after her.

"Good," she grinned. "'Cause we have a little boy waiting for our call."

"Wait," I said.

She turned around to look up at me.

I took my freehand and gestured toward my face. "I do not want Hunter to know that I shed tears after learning of his surprise for me. He would not understand that they were," I paused, looking for the right word, "_necessary_—good tears."

Sookie examined my face and then brought her thumb to her mouth, quickly getting it wet with her saliva. She then used the moisture to wipe away the smudges of blood under my eyes. The act reminded me of something my human mother would have done to get a speck of dirt off of my face. It was a simply act of affectionate care, but from Sookie, I had learned that those acts were the best kind.

"Have I told you that you look beautiful tonight?" I asked.

"Tell me again," she ordered playfully as she fixed my collar to her liking.

"You _are_ beautiful," I said as I kissed her forehead.

She grinned and then turned around to push the button on the computer.

* * *

[_**A/N:**_ Hello! Thanks for all the reviews and thoughts about the last chapter! In my usual broken-record fashion, I will just remind you all that you are the best!

_**Next up:**_ A "guest" point of view. I'll try to have the next chapter ready by tomorrow or the next day.]


	16. Chapter 16: Hunter

**Chapter 16: Hunter**

_**HPOV**_

"Hunt," my Emma said from the floor where we were playing a game of checkers, "lookin' at your computer won't make them call any faster. And," she pouted a little, "it's your turn too."

I couldn't help but to go back to my place on the floor. My Emma had made a good move, and it took me a minute to see where I could go next to make sure she couldn't jump any of my pieces. My daddy had taught me to always think about the move the person I was playing would make after me, and because of that, I could usually beat Emma at checkers—not that I did every time. Actually, I always tried to pass along to her all the hints Daddy gave me for playing. She was eight, and I was only seven, but her daddy, Sam, didn't play checkers much, so I made sure Emma learned the stuff I did from my daddy.

Because of that, we were both pretty good at the game.

"You moved where I wanted to move!" she said with frustration after I lifted my finger from my piece. She glared at me, "You didn't read my mind, did ya?"

I smiled. She always said that I musta been readin' her mind when I made a good move, but I _never_ read my Emma's mind—not even the first day I met her. I'd wanted to. I really had! She'd been so pretty and so nice, and I didn't have any kid friends back then. I didn't have any friends at all, except for Daddy, and he was only Uncle Eric back then.

I'd never even hung out with a kid before—'cause of my mind gift.

That's why I had _really_ wanted to read Emma's mind when I met her. I wanted to know if she liked me or if she thought I was weird. But I didn't do it. I was able to stop myself, both 'cause something inside of me felt it wasn't right and 'cause she was a little harder to read than anyone else around me, except for Daddy and the other vampires. I couldn't read them at all.

Except for maybe one time.

I was pretty sure that I heard one thing comin' from Daddy's head. It was the very first day I met him. That mean fairy, Claudette, had taken Aunt Sookie and my mommy away, and Daddy was still trapped outside. He was tryin' to get out from under the silver chains. He told me not to worry and that he was gonna get free. He promised that he wasn't gonna leave me. He said those things out loud. I'd heard them with my ears.

But then he said something else that felt different; that's why I was pretty sure it was him thinkin' something. He said, "I'm trying min kära. I'm trying." He only ever called Aunt Sookie that, so that's why I figured he musta been thinkin' it. But that's the only vampire thought I ever heard, so I never mentioned it to anyone—except for Daddy, of course.

He said it was okay and that I should tell him—but _only_ him or Aunt Sookie—if I ever heard anything else from a vampire's head. He seemed serious, so I kept that time a secret, even from Emma and Sissy.

Luckily, since my shields weren't good when I was five, Emma had always been almost as hard for me to hear as a vampire, even when I held her hand. I'd seen colors in her head, but I'd never heard a thought, and now that I was seven and really good with my shields, I made sure that I kept myself out of her head. I liked it when Emma talked to me about stuff out loud.

I reached over and brushed some of my Emma's soft brown curls behind her ear. It had fallen from her ponytail, and I knew she didn't like it when that happened.

She gave me one of the smiles that she gave _only_ to me, and my heart went a little faster. I couldn't say why that always happened when she smiled at me, but I liked it. It was the reason why she was _my_ Emma.

"Can I go to your prom with you one day?" I asked since it'd been on my mind ever since we decided that Daddy and Mamma—I mean Aunt Sookie—should have their own prom.

Her forehead wrinkled a little as she thought about it. "They have a prom for _ninth_ graders. That's six years from now, and I'll be fourteen then."

"Should I ask again then?" I asked, trying not to let my voice seem scared.

"No!" she said quickly, looking at me as if I was crazy.

For a moment, my heart sank right into the floor.

She shook her head at the sad look on my face. "Of course I want you to go with me, silly!" she chided me. "I just have to decide what color dress I wanna wear."

Immediately, I felt better. I'd been holding my breath, but now I could breathe again.

After a few seconds, she looked like she had a light bulb come on over her head. "I'll wear green!" she said excitedly.

I smiled. She knew that green was my favorite color, and it also looked pretty with her brown eyes and brown hair. Of course, she was pretty in everything, but green was the best.

Her forehead crinkled again. "But what kind of flower is green?"

"I don't know," I said. "But Sissy says pink goes with everything."

Her nose crinkled.

"White?" I offered. "Or maybe there's a green flower. Daddy would know. Or Aunt Sookie. Or Uncle Claude. They're real smart."

She nodded. "Okay. I'll wear white flowers—if you can't find green. But it's your job to get them for me. The boy brings the flowers. The girl wears the pretty dress."

I nodded. I'd have to write down what she said later so I wouldn't forget.

Just as I was about ready to tell her all about the tree house my daddy and I were gonna build in the tree Emma and I first climbed together, my computer beeped. Excitedly, I stood up, and Emma was right behind me. I pushed the button that I knew would connect me to my daddy and Aunt Sookie's call.

Emma held my hand as I let out a sigh of relief at seeing Daddy and Mamma—I mean, Aunt Sookie. They were safe and sound.

"Hey sweetie," Aunt Sookie said, waving at me.

"Hey Aunt Sookie. Hi Daddy," I said excitedly as I waved back.

"Good evening, Emma. Hello min son," Daddy said with a smile on his face.

"You look so pretty," Emma said to Aunt Sookie. "Does Mr. N like your dress?"

I smiled. My Emma had always called my daddy Mr. N."

"Thanks, honey," Aunt Sookie said to my Emma as she winked at us. "Yep, he sure does."

I grinned. Aunt Sookie did look really pretty. She was smiling, and so was my daddy. He looked happy, and his eyes were smiling too.

"What have you done today, min son," Daddy asked.

"Well," I answered, "Emma came over tonight, and we swam in the pool 'cause it's so hot. And now we're just playin' games. Oh," I added, "Uncle Lala made spaghetti tonight, and I practiced my times tables with Miranda when we had school today."

Daddy nodded at me. He was still smiling "Did you remember your practice?" he asked.

I nodded. Since Daddy and Aunt Sookie were on their play-date, we hadn't been able to practice our swords like we usually did, but I was still able to go through the moves Daddy had already taught me. "Batanya and Breeta watched me earlier today to make sure I was doin' my moves right, and they even taught me some cool Britlingen moves after that!"

"I look forward to learning them from you, min son," Daddy said.

I shook my head and sighed. "Sorry, Daddy. Batanya said I couldn't show them to you. She said they were top-secret moves _only_ Britlingens know, so now I'm a," I paused, trying to remember what Batanya had said, "_ornery_ Britlingen. She said I would need them if I ever had to fight a bad vampire, right Breeta?" I asked over my shoulder.

"Correct," Breeta said.

Daddy chuckled. "Well then—it looks like you will have to start doing some more secret training with Batanya and Breeta so that you can learn even more from them—since you are now an _honorary_ Britlingen."

"That's right," I said. "_Honorary_!"

"Though _ornery_ might work too," he said back with a wink.

I smiled. I just knew my daddy would be happy when he found out Batanya and Breeta had taught me some secret cool stuff. My daddy was pretty awesome that way!

Emma whispered into my ear and I nodded. "Emma and me think it's time for the dancin' to start," I smiled.

Aunt Sookie giggled. "Me too, Hunt. Your daddy is a great dancer."

"You'll be home tomorrow night?" I asked Daddy as Aunt Sookie started fiddling with something on the computer.

Daddy nodded. "We will be with you before your bedtime, min son, so you may have another practice with Batanya and Breeta if you wish."

"Cool," I said. I liked my practices with my daddy best, but Batanya and Breeta were good warriors too.

I held Emma's hand a little tighter as Aunt Sookie blew me a kiss and Daddy told me that they would say goodnight before they turned off the camera. Aunt Sookie did something more with the computer, and then the picture changed a little, so I figured that the camera Molly sent was what was sending us the picture now.

"It's pretty," Emma whispered to me.

I nodded. It _was_ pretty. There were lots of candles around the room. Daddy told me that he'd be takin' me with him and Aunt Sookie on their next visit to the cabin, and I was lookin' forward to it 'cause I knew it was a special place."

We listened as one of Bubba's songs—the one that Aunt Sookie said her and Daddy danced to before—came on. I smiled as Aunt Sookie and Daddy came into the picture. They both waved at me, and then they looked at each other and smiled. Aunt Sookie took my daddy's hand and he leaned in toward her. And, then, they were dancin'.

Emma's hand squeezed mine.

"I've never seen people dancin' before," I said quietly as we watched Daddy and Aunt Sookie move around in the picture. "Except in movies and on TV," I corrected myself. "But it wasn't like this."

"I saw my mom and my dad, Sam, dance once," Emma sighed as she leaned her head against my shoulder. Since I was tall already—like my daddy—she fit just right. And I liked it when she leaned against me.

"We'll dance like that at your prom one day," I said with certainty.

I felt her head nodding against my shoulder.

"Your daddy and mamma almost look like they're floating," Emma said quietly as we continued to watch them.

"They just might be," I remarked. "Daddy can fly," I grinned, "and Mamma—I mean Aunt Sookie—makes him wanna fly."

"He was smilin' somethin' fierce, Hunt," my Emma said to me as her head sunk deeper into my shoulder. I put my arm around her shoulder.

"He was," I agreed. "He was smilin' like I've never seen him smilin' before." I breathed in and out deeply, taking in Emma's smell and feeling a lot of relief. I always knew my daddy was gonna be okay. He'd been sad when Aunt Sookie was gone. And he'd been nervous since she'd been back, watchin' over her like I was watchin' over him. But even through the video, I knew now that he was gonna be fine 'cause his eyes were all the way happy.

"Emma?" I said as we watched Daddy and Aunt Sookie dance another dance.

"Yeah Hunt?" she asked.

"I'm gonna love you like Daddy loves Aunt Sookie one day."

She laughed next to me. "Hunt?"

"Yeah Emma?"

"You already do, silly," she said.

And she was right.

* * *

[_**A/N:**_ I hope you liked this little look into Hunter's head. It was actually quite the challenge to write. It's hard to get into the head of a seven-year-old boy! I was trying to channel my nephew. To me, Hunter is kind of an old soul, and b/c of his telepathy, he's been forced to "grow up" faster, but he's also just a kid. It was really fun to take a glance at Emma and Hunter at this age b/c the third story in the _B&F_ trilogy takes place about ten years after this, so it was interesting to think of how they'd interact together when they were younger.

_**Next up:**_ We'll be back to Eric and Sookie. I'll try to have the next chapter by Sunday or Monday. I have errands and cleaning to catch up with tomorrow.]


	17. Chapter 17: Why Wait

**Chapter 17: Why Wait**

_**SPOV**_

After a few dances, Eric and I told Hunter and Emma good night, but we continued to dance, neither one of us ready to stop. Thankfully, when my feet got a little numb, Eric pretty much took over, and my feet barely seemed to be touching the ground after that. So either he was hovering, or I was just too darned happy to feel my feet after a while.

It really didn't matter which it was.

In fact, we danced for hours—until my stomach was growling and my feet finally would not be ignored.

However, both my "ailments" were soon made better by my mate and the two _very_ important things he did for me. First, Eric had zipped into the kitchen to make me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, which was still my all-time favorite comfort food. And second, he was currently rubbing my feet as I ate said sandwich. I sunk into the couch as I moaned because of both the food and his talented fingers.

"You are testing my control, wife," Eric said, his eyes glazing over a little and his lust beginning to trickle into the bond.

I giggled. "_You're_ the one who made me the PB&J, and _you're_ the one with the magic fingers. My moans are, therefore, _your_ fault, Mr. Vampire."

He tickled behind my knee and then sighed contented. "Hunter seemed happy earlier."

I nodded as I swallowed a drink of the tea he'd brought me. "He was happy to see _you_ so happy," I said quietly.

"I am happy, Sookie," Eric said, his eyes filled with sincerity and love.

"It's my job to keep you that way," I said, just as sincerely.

"My job to keep you that way too," he returned.

"Good to know you know your job, Viking," I teased.

He smiled but then sighed as he looked down at the floor. I followed his gaze to my discarded shoes.

"What?" I asked.

"I wanted to fuck you in those," he said with a pout that could rival a seven-year-old's.

"Eric Northman! You watch your language!" I said in as harsh a tone as I could muster before I broke up into a giggle fit.

"Well—I _did_." He was still pouting. His bottom lip was even out a little.

I grinned. "I promise that I won't throw them away. Maybe you'll get your chance."

"Tonight?" he asked with hope in his eyes.

"Don't push your luck," I teased. "And get back to rubbing," I ordered.

He muttered something about unreasonable wives, but continued to rub anyway, even as his joy ricocheted around the bond. Surprisingly, he kept his rubbing to a PG-level. I have to admit that I was even more surprised that he'd kept our dancing to PG—or maybe some PG-13 after we signed off with Hunter.

As if reading my mind, he remarked, "I needed tonight. I liked it. I liked being close to you—dancing with you."

"I'm glad," I smiled. "I liked it too."

A faraway look shot into his eyes, and I knew that he was thinking about his past.

"I danced in my human days too," he said.

"Did you dance with Aude?" I asked.

He shook his head. "No," he said a little sadly. "Our wedding was a hurried thing. I was anxious to strengthen my village's position, and Aude was older and restless to be wed. Our ceremony was not as it might have been." He paused and sighed deeply; it was one of his melancholy sighs, the kind I hated. "I did not dance again for more than four hundred years after my human parents and sister were killed. It was Duncan that influenced me to do it again, though I can safely say that a kilt is a dangerous thing to dance in, especially if it is worn properly."

"Properly?" I asked.

He grinned like the cat that ate the canary. "Yes—_without_ undergarments."

I giggled and felt heat rising to my cheeks.

"Shall I see if I can find that kilt, Lover?" he asked, moving his caresses further up my leg.

Sadly, the mood was killed when I burped.

Luckily, my vampire chuckled. "Humans," he said with mock frustration.

I grinned. "I like Duncan—by the way."

"I'm glad," Eric said. "He likes you too—though if he ever tries to seduce you, I will kill him."

"He loves Batanya," I returned, "and if he ever tried to seduce _anyone_ else, you'd have to get in line behind _her_ to kill him."

We both looked at each other seriously for a moment before we burst out laughing.

"I like Batanya too—a lot," I said after a few minutes.

He chuckled. "She is one of the few beings I have met who has scared me."

I giggled. "She _is_ a little scary. But," I paused, "she loves Hunter."

"That she does, min kära," he agreed.

* * *

_**EPOV**_

My mate always made noises while she ate, and those noises never failed to arouse me. How she could moan into a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich was beyond me, but she did. I will admit that the peach preserves, made from fruit that had grown on the trees I had planted, _did_ smell good—though I always preferred the scent of the fresh fruit.

I honestly could not believe that I had refrained from ravaging her thus far tonight, especially considering how fucking incredible she looked. And those shoes! To my great regret, they had to be sacrificed to the greater good of Sookie's comfort. However, I planned to make sure they got home with us so that I could see her in them again—_soon_.

At first, I had been prevented from making love to my mate by her own powers. And then she had told me of Hunter's plan. After that, there was our serious, though brief discussion of the reason why Hunter had felt I needed a special date. Of course, we then spoke to Hunter and Emma before dancing for a while and saying goodnight to them.

I had been pleased to hear that Sam and Luna were allowing Emma to have a sleepover with Hunter. He would not miss Sookie and me as much since she was there, and being with her always made him happy.

After Sookie had checked for a third time in order to make sure that the Internet connection and the camera were turned off after we said goodnight to the children, I will admit that I thought briefly about ending our "prom" and going back to my plan of taking Sookie in her red shoes. After all, as soon as I had held Sookie in my arms―her body molding perfectly into mine as we danced―I'd had to find creative ways to hide my growing erection from both the camera and the kids. Luckily, I was _very_ creative.

But even when there were no impediments, I had refrained from making love to Sookie up to this point. In truth, dancing with my wife for so long had been one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Our new bond seemed to open up more and more as we held each other. The simplicity of our movements—the perfect way that we flowed together as we danced—was matched by the connection I felt with her through the bond. Her joy and excitement became mine. My contentment and bliss became hers. With each dance, the commingling of our bodies, our minds, our spirits, and whatever else made us up was more intense—more perfect.

I was a lucky bastard.

When the playlist had run out, I still felt the need to dance with her, and she shared my craving, so we started it again. And finished it again. It was only her complaining stomach and tired feet that compelled us not to start the playlist for a third time.

As I continued to rub Sookie's feet lightly—at just the pressure I knew she enjoyed—I couldn't help but to feel light as well. Our conversation earlier had gone a long way toward compelling me to face the fears that had been niggling at my subconscious since Sookie had gotten home. She'd been right. Dreading that the past would repeat itself was not productive. My human father had taught me that the past should always inform our lives, but it was the present that should be lived and the future that should be prepared for. His wisdom still held true.

But even more healing than our talk had been the way that Sookie seemed to reach into my body—into the bond—and soothe me. She had been my balm after Godric died—when a single touch of her hand had placed a strong bandage over my searing grief. She had also used her healing light to relieve both the mental and physical wounds left behind by Russell. But with our new bond, it seemed as if she could do even more to give me comfort and strength.

My thoughts were interrupted as Sookie placed her empty plate on the coffee table and took her feet from my lap. She stood up and reached her hand out for mine.

"Another dance?" she asked with a raised brow.

I felt my lips curl up into a smile as she stood. "Shall I turn on the music, min kära?" I asked as I kicked off my shoes and took off my socks so that we would both be barefoot.

She shook her head. "We don't need any. We have our own."

I growled a little, immediately aroused by the intensity of her gaze, and then I joined her in the middle of the living room floor and took her gently into my arms.

She followed me as I began to move and then curved into my body. The fact that she was no longer wearing 4-inch heals made our height difference even more noticeable, but—inexplicably—that disparity made the dance feel even more _right_. She looked up at me with her brilliant brown eyes, which managed to both absorb and reflect the waning light of the candles.

As our eyes locked together, and suddenly any patience I had felt in waiting to make love to my mate disappeared. Even as she lifted herself up on her tiptoes, I bent down to meet her lips with mine. Our kiss was slow and hungry at the same time. And her slender arms tightened around my neck as my own hands traveled down the sides of her curvy hips and then up her back before loosening her hair from its binding and settling into its softness.

As I broke my connection with her lips so that I could trail kisses from her chin to her neck and to that bare shoulder that had been tempting me all night, she smoothly swept my jacket from my shoulders and then pulled my shirt from my pants. Working from the bottom button, her deft fingers opened each one, even as my own fingers found and then lowered the zipper on her dress. My shirt soon found itself in the same pile as my jacket.

Backing away from her just a little, I caressed her dress from her shoulder and enjoyed the show as she shimmied out of it. What was left behind was a wonderful vision of red lace, which complemented my mate's curves and tan to utter fucking perfection.

I heard myself growl as my eyes roved over her body.

"I thought you might like these," she said breathily as she narrowed the gap between us and began to kiss my chest. When her fingers lowered to open my pants and her blunt teeth closed over my nipple in just the way I liked, I growled again. She was a fucking master at making me into putty.

Deciding that her nipples definitely needed my attention as well, I brought my hands up to tease her breasts through the thin, lacy fabric of her bra. Immediately, her buds rose into my touch, and I lost no time in unhooking her bra so that I could enjoy her soft, tender flesh without the encumbrance of the garment. The lingerie was sexy as fuck, but my wife's naked body was even more beautiful without any covering.

Sookie rubbed my erection through my pants and nibbled at my neck. Putty. I was fucking putty.

She next turned her attention to my zipper, which was having one hell of a time staying in one piece because of my straining cock pushing against it. I kept myself busy as she worked, however, by taking her left nipple into my mouth and nibbling on her as she'd nibbled me. I was rewarded with my name moaned from her lips.

I smiled against her flesh until her little hand found its way into my pants and tightly gripped my cock.

"Sookie," I moaned in return.

When she took her hand off of my engorged and very needy erection, I felt like crying, but my sadness at the momentary loss of contact was immediately replaced by elation as she took both her hands to getting my pants over my hips.

She had, of course, felt my "pouting" in the bond.

"You're such a baby," she said playfully as she spanked my newly bare ass.

"Minx," I returned with fake petulance before we both laughed a little. I bent down to finish taking off my pants so that she could keep her hands right where she wanted them—square in the middle of my butt cheeks. The only problem was that the scent of her arousal was even stronger as I bent down, and before I knew it, I was on my knees before her.

This time, she pouted as my ass moved from the range of her greedy hands.

"_You_ are such a baby," I grinned up at her.

She gave me a fake glare and then tapped her beautiful foot. "Well," she sassed, "since you're down there, you'd better get to work, Buck-o."

Yes. I was complete and utter putty.

My eyes were directly level with Sookie's lacy boy shorts now, and never a vampire to shirk his work, I ran my tongue over the textured fabric. I smirked at the glazed over look her eyes immediately took on.

"This garment is completely soaked, lover," I whispered into her heat as I licked again.

"You'd be doin' me a favor if you took it off of me then," she whispered a little unsteadily.

I licked again, enjoying the sweet teasing that I was causing us both. "Do you wish to keep these naughty little panties, lover? Or may I rip them off of your beautiful body so that I can see _all_ of what is _mine_?" I ran my fingers just under the edge of the lace, barely bringing them into contact with her outer lips.

"Oh, God," she moaned. "They're already ruined because of you, Northman," she whimpered. "You might as well finish the job."

I gripped the sides of her panties with both my hands and ripped them off of her. I followed the tearing fabric with my tongue, licking up her beautiful womanhood—all the way from her opening to her clit. When I got there, I took a moment to suck it into my mouth.

"Oh, God," she repeated. I smiled into my work. I didn't mind being compared to a God when I was servicing my wife; it meant that I was doing a good job.

As I continued to work her with my mouth, she grabbed my hair and tried to pull me into her heat even more. I could have told her that that was impossible; however, my tongue was too busy probing her to speak. She writhed and gasped above me, and I could tell that her legs would give out any minute. Luckily, I didn't need a minute to bring her to completion as I replaced my tongue with two of my fingers. I curled them just so, even as I sucked relentlessly on her nerve center. Within moments, she was shaking around me as her walls pulsed.

"Mmmm," I murmured against her flesh as I was treated to hot nectar from her body.

"Eric," she gasped, her head lolling back a bit.

In a flash that took what was left of her breath away, I had risen from my knees, had taken her in my arms and was carrying her to our bedroom. I wanted to take my time with her that night—to savor every taste of her and to bring her many more orgasms before I buried myself into her supple flesh and brought her to many more.

And that was exactly what I did until she fell asleep in my arms right as the day claimed me.

* * *

[_**A/N:**_ Sorry I didn't get this to you yesterday. We had a big wind storm here on Sunday morning and just got our Internet back today.

Thanks for all the reviews for the last chapter! The Internet being down put a curve ball into my answering them all (since I was limited to my phone), but I appreciate the fact that so many people are still reading and enjoyed Hunter's POV.

I'll try to have the next chapter up tomorrow or the next day.}


	18. Chapter 18: Slivers

**Chapter 18: Slivers**

_**SPOV**_

I woke up deliciously sore and still tingling—most assuredly from the after-effects of the orgasms Eric insisted we put into my "jar" last night. I'd never been one to complain about an excellent plan.

What could I say? I was a very lucky girl, and my husband had excellent plans.

Glancing at the clock, I saw that it would be about two hours before Eric rose. He'd been getting up about an hour before sunset each night, and I was looking forward to watching it with him. Despite my wish to stay cuddled into the body of my mate, my bladder forced me to get out of bed; I couldn't help but to laugh at the image I saw in the mirror.

It was very much different than the last time I saw it.

My simple, elegant bun from the night before had been replaced by the worst case of sex hair I'd ever had, and with Eric as my partner, I'd had plenty of bad cases before. I also noticed that there were no signs of my smudge-proof lipstick. I chuckled and turned on the shower so that the water could warm and then did as my bladder commanded. I would take only a short shower now so that I could get my hair under control. I planned to be waiting in the tub for Eric when he rose.

After my shower, I was pleased to find that I didn't need a chainsaw to get through my tangled mass after all, and within ten minutes, I looked like myself more than a member of an 80's hair-band.

My husband must have been rubbing off on me because I wandered into the living room of the cabin as naked as the day I was born. But I had an outfit in mind. I grabbed Eric's black shirt from the night before and inhaled my husband's scent deeply before I put the garment on. It—of course—was like a dress on me, but I enjoyed wearing Eric's clothing when I could, especially when he was asleep. It didn't really make me feel any closer to him; after all, we were about as close as two beings could get. But—as odd as it sounded since Eric was a cold-blooded creature—wearing his clothing made me feel warmer somehow.

Next on the agenda was food, and I practically skipped to the kitchen. I started coffee and hummed a little tune as I made French toast for myself. Not wanting to waste any of the food Eric had brought, I tried to use all the perishable items. I put the leftover bread into the freezer. There was one egg left, so I scrambled that up and ate it on the side.

Eric had gotten me a Kindle after I returned from the fairy realm, and I powered it up and settled into the mystery I was reading as I ate my breakfast.

Half an hour and two chapters later, I turned off the little machine and then spent some time doing the chores that had to be done before we left. I gathered up the dirty dishes, washed them, and then left them to dry as I put away the camera equipment and laptop. I also gathered up my dress, shoes and bra from the floor as well as the rest of Eric's discarded clothing. I placed them and our other dirty clothing into the duffel bag. After that, I put away the dried dishes and gathered up the little bit of trash we'd created so that we could take it with us to throw away.

I knew that Eric had told Hunter that we'd be home a little before his bedtime, so that would leave us a while to spend together before we left. With that in mind, I ran a bath and settled into it as I waited for Eric to rise.

I must have dozed off because the next thing I knew, I felt a big Viking getting into the water with me—_big_ in every way imaginable.

Did I mention I was lucky?

I sank into his broad chest and sighed. Without a word, he took the bath gel from the side of the tub and lathered his hands before he got to work on my apparently very dirty body. I moaned as he tenderly—and then more vigorously—washed my back and arms. He re-lathered his hands before moving them around to my upper chest and stomach. I arched into his strong fingers as they caressed and cared for me. I tried to scoot up a bit so that those fingers would touch my breasts, but he denied me. After one more re-lathering, however, he _finally_ moved to them. His slow, erotic handling of me caused ripples through my body that pooled between my legs.

"Are you ready for me, lover?" came my suddenly impatient vampire's voice from behind me.

For about a second, I thought about teasing him―just as he'd been teasing me—but he'd worked me up too much, so coyness and hesitation were out the window. My head was slumped back against his shoulder, and I nodded against his chest.

Quicker than I could register, he had turned me around in his arms and I was impaled on his hard erection.

"Eric!" I cried out as I wrapped my arms around his neck and held on.

"Mmmm," he sounded as he raised and lowered my hips again and again, setting a frenzied pace for us. As he moved my body, he also moved his. His hips thrust upward, causing the most delicious pounding against my pubic bone and rubbing my clit on each upstroke.

"So close," I moaned after only a few minutes of his steady thrusts. He brought his thumb down and swirled it around my clit almost desperately. That meant that he was close too, but was waiting for me to cum first before he lost control.

I grabbed his face in my hands and gave him a hard kiss before pulling back and looking him in the eyes. "Cum for me, Eric," I whispered. "Cum with me," I groaned as my orgasm started.

My explosion drew the first burst of seed from Eric's body, and the next thing I knew, he was biting into my breast, feeding from me and feeding my orgasm as well. I shook around him in ecstasy as he emptied into me. Lazily, he closed the small wound in my body and then held me close to him until the aftershocks of our releases ebbed and we were both left panting into each other's shoulders. I liked that I made him pant even though he didn't have to breathe.

"I love you, min kära," he said.

"I love you," I returned.

* * *

_**EPOV**_

After our bath and love-making, we watched the sun dip into the horizon together. The daylight was just another gift my bonded had given to me. I was still awake for only part of the day and could not stay out in the sun interminably, but I'd not seen it for a thousand years before Sookie came into my life. Thus, I had zero complaints about any restrictions my vampire nature still had for me.

Moreover, seeing the sun with my mate—who was such a creature of that orb—was always a revelation for me.

Once the feathery light of the setting sun was gone, Sookie and I went back inside the cabin.

"Will you come with me?" I asked as I stretched out my hand to her.

She looked up at me and took in my serious expression. "Anywhere," she said. I smiled at her words and the truth behind them.

She took my hand and I led her to the cubby. I motioned for her to sit on the bed.

"There is one other reason I wished to come to the cabin alone with you, min kära," I said softly.

She looked at me with curiosity in her eyes.

I lifted one of my pendants from around my neck. I left the eagle's talon Godric had given me and took off the little locket I had carved to hold the silver fragments that Sookie had taken from my body. Sookie had saved those silver pieces and had given them to me as tokens of her love for me.

However, when she gave me those symbols of her love, I am sure that she had never intended for me to use them to cause myself pain—which I had done during all the months that I had been unable to feel her through the fairy bond. Focusing on them had kept me sane during that time. I knew now that I had gone about my self-preservation in the wrong way and that I had inadvertently hurt those around me—including Hunter and Pam—but at the time, my pain had been all-consuming. I had been lost in my own fears.

I had already confessed to my wife that I had used the silver to cause myself pain during her absence; thus, she had _very_ ambivalent feelings about the little locket I still wore.

Carefully, I opened the wooden covering and turned over the locket so that the two silver fragments inside—the shard from the bomb in Dallas and the bullet Debbie Pelt had shot into my shoulder—were on the bed next to Sookie. My mate had taken both of them from my body—the first because I had tricked her and the second because she did not want to see me in pain.

Sookie cringed when I lightly brushed my fingers over the silver pieces lovingly. Immediately, I felt her magic healing my tiny wounds even faster than my own could do the job.

"It is okay, min kära." I said soothingly. "I know that you do not like the fact that I once used these pieces of silver to cause myself pain, and I wish I had been strong enough not to do that, but I was not." I sighed and ran my hand through my hair as I did when I was nervous. Only with her did I feel like I could show my uncertainty.

"Eric," she whispered. I felt her comfort reaching into me through the bond as if it were a corporeal being that could hold me from the inside. Maybe it was.

"I love this silver," I said, bringing my hand to within millimeters of it, but not touching the metal again.

I saw confusion on my mate's face.

"Both of these pieces of silver entered into me when I was protecting you."

She nodded and looked at me with love. "I know."

I motioned toward the bullet Debbie had put into me. "I love this one more than the other."

"Why?" Sookie asked, her curiosity rising.

"Because I did not have to trick you into sucking it out of me," I said softly.

She shook her head and took the other piece of silver into her hand. "I like this one more."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because who else in this wide world would have stepped between me and a bomb. You saved my life, you big, silly vampire."

I chuckled.

"No you don't," she said seriously. "You don't get to laugh off the fact that you put yourself between me and a bomb."

"Sookie," I said gently as I brushed my fingers across her cheek. "I was fine."

"_After_ I sucked several pieces of silver from you," she said shaking her head. A little smile fell onto her lips, but then immediately fell back off. She closed her eyes. "Stan was only a few feet from us, and he died. That bomb was full of silver—like this piece right here." Her brown eyes glistened with unspent tears as she opened her eyes and looked down at the silver in her hand. "And when I think about this hurtin' you again, Eric—when I think about you usin' this silver to cause yourself pain—I just," she stopped midsentence as her tears began to fall.

I pulled her into my arms. "I am sorry, min kära."

"What were you thinkin' when you hurt yourself with this stuff?" she asked. "I need to know, Eric."

I sighed and nodded. "And I need to tell you so that I can be free of that pain. But I need to tell you more so that _you_ can be free of it too."

She burrowed into my chest, even as I felt her guilt in the bond. Sookie had been completely right about my needing to overcome the fear I felt about the past, but I had been feeling a similarly negative emotion staining her own conscience during the past weeks: guilt. She felt guilty that our separation had been twenty months to me, but just over one month to her. And I knew that at a subconscious level, she blamed herself for being gone from me. She blamed herself for not having enough control over her gifts at the time she was taken by Claudette. She blamed herself for being on Mab and Claudette's radar at all. In short, she blamed herself for every bit of the pain that I had felt in the months that she was gone.

She might not have known that she was blaming herself so much—not on a conscious level—but she was doing just that.

I sighed. I knew that Sookie felt responsible for everything that had happened. I knew it because of the intensity with which she seemed to be trying to "make something up" to me. Hunter had even questioned me a few times about Sookie's thoughts. He was wondering why his aunt Sookie felt like she needed to be perfect for us all the time.

I inhaled deeply and unnecessarily as I tucked Sookie closer into me. I spoke softly, "When they were inside of my body, that silver in your hand and the piece on the bed burned like fire. But," I paused, "in _both_ cases, I was also glad to feel that silver because it meant that it was _not_ in you. It meant that I had done my job in protecting you. It meant that I was being a worthy mate to you."

I felt her wiping her tears onto the old T-shirt I had put on just for that purpose. I had known that she would cry when we spoke of this. Thus, I hated even bringing it up. But—her tears tonight were just as necessary as mine had been the night before. I wanted us to move on with our lives without her guilt and without my fear. We had been happy since her return from the fairy realm, and Hunter was happy too, but I wanted to remove the weight from her shoulders so that I could see her smiles shining in her eyes. It just went to show how fucking in sync with each other we were in that she had seen a similar weight on me and had wanted to use this getaway to deal with that as well.

I sighed and continued to speak when her cries had lessened a little. "I hurt myself with these pieces of silver because I wanted to remember the times when I had been able to protect you. I even wanted to remember that pain. I wanted to imagine that I was with you to take away any pain that you might have been feeling at that time—just as you took away my pain when these were inside of me. I was numb, and I wanted to feel. I was powerless, and I needed to remember times when I had saved you so that I could focus on doing what needed to be done in order to save you again if need be. I know it wasn't healthy, min kära, but it was not something that I could control at the time."

"You can't do things like that, Eric. Not ever again. You just—can't," she insisted as she whimpered into my shirt.

"Sookie?" I said, prompting her to look at me. "I promise you that I will live the rest of my life by your side. I promise you that if we are ever separated again, I will not let a night go by before we are together again. I promise that I will follow you into death—if need be. And I promise that I will throw myself into the paths of thousands of silver bullets to protect you from pain if I have to." I sighed. "But I also promise that I will never again give in to despair as I did when I hurt myself with this silver."

She nodded, even as more tears dropped from her eyes.

"But _you_ must promise me something too, my love."

"What?" she asked in a shaky voice.

"No more guilt, Sookie."

She looked at me in question.

"You had no power over what happened to me—to us. It was _not_ your fault, my love. Yet I feel you blaming yourself for the time we lost. However, that time was necessary in saving our lives. If you had not gone with Claudette, I would be dead and Hunter would be in Mab's clutches. If you had not spent the time training with Niall and Claude, Russell would have killed me. Yet you blame yourself for what Russell did to me too. _ I_ am the one who left him alive when I should have let him die in the sun outside of Fangtasia. _I _made that mistake, Sookie. But you refused to let me feel responsible for it." I paused. "Even now, I feel the guilt flowing from you. But you have done _nothing_ to feel guilty for—_nothing_!"

She was weeping again into my shirt.

"You told me something very wise last night, my love," I continued, speaking quietly as if to lull her. "You said that I should not let my fear of the past tarnish the life we live now. Please, do not allow the guilt you feel to do something similar."

She cried for a few minutes more and then looked up at me. "We're quite the pair, huh?"

I chuckled and wiped away her tears. "We are. We both have this notion that we should be able to control that which happens to us. But we _cannot_ always do that. And when we feel powerless, we both tend to blame ourselves for it. It is something we must," I paused, "work on―together―min kära."

"Did you get that from Dear Abby?" she asked, her smile traveling to her eyes and into the bond.

I laughed. "Pam continues to place what she calls 'relevant lessons' onto my desk at Fangtasia each Sunday night. And—I hate to admit it, but sometimes Abby is helpful."

"Yeah, she puts them on my desk at home too," Sookie said with a little laugh of her own. "She's a pain in the ass, but she loves you and Hunter very much."

"And you too," I reminded.

She chuckled a little more freely. "Not yet, but I'm working on her. Plus," she said a little feistily, "I'm not sure I love her just yet."

I pulled her into a tight embrace. I loved it when Sookie was spirited. I also loved that the upwelling of guilt which I had felt from her inside of the bond had lessened considerably. It wasn't quite gone, but—like the fear I had been feeling from within myself—it was well on its way out.

I pulled back from her and picked up the wooden locket I had made and motioned for her to put the silver pieces inside of it before I closed the locket and put it into her hands.

"I _love_ these pieces of silver, min kära," I said again quietly. "They are and will always be tokens that show me your love for me."

"Are you giving me this?" she looked at me in confusion as she held up the locket.

"Not quite."

* * *

[_**A/N:**_ Well—we are almost to the end. I think there will be only one more chapter of this little "Sojourn." Thanks so much for your feedback for the last chapter!

_**Up next:**_ We'll see what Eric has in mind with the locket and why he took Sookie to the cubby.

The last chapter is a little longer, so it might take me a couple of days to finish it, but I'll have it ASAP.]


	19. Chapter 19: Safe

**Chapter 19: Safe**

_**EPOV**_

_I pulled back from her, picked up the wooden locket I had made, and motioned for her to put the silver pieces inside of it before I closed the locket and put it into her hands._

"_I love these pieces of silver, min kära," I said again quietly. "They are and will always be tokens that show me your love for me." _

"_Are you giving me this?" she looked at me in confusion as she held up the locket._

"Not quite." I shook my head and got up from the bed. I opened the safe that was above the desk. "The code for the safe is the same as the code for the cubby―plus Hunter's birthday." I looked over my shoulder and saw her nodding in understanding.

"When I was here the other day―bringing food and supplies for our trip―I added to what was in here."

"Okay," she said.

"There are passports and documents under several names for Hunter, me, and you—just in case we ever have to run." I felt a little fear coming from her and quickly turned around to reassure her. "I don't think we will ever need them, but I have learned over the years to account for all contingencies."

She nodded. "What about the others?" she asked.

"Jesus and Duncan already know what to do," I said, sending both comfort and confidence into the bond. In fact, I had similar travel documents for everyone who lived on the _ætt land_, as well as Jason and Jessica. I knew that Thalia had her own contingency plans, and she would have accounted for Bubba, but I had paperwork for him too.

"Okay," she said, not needing to question me about it. I loved that she trusted in me.

"There is also some money in here, and Cataliades is the one to call if you ever need access to more."

She sighed behind me. "Is there a reason why you're showin' me all this now?"

I shook my head. "No—not beyond the fact that you are my partner and need to know all that I know in order to make sure Hunter, you, and I remain safe."

She smiled at that. "Okay. I assume there is a similar safe at home somewhere?" she asked astutely.

I nodded. "There's an access panel under the bed in the cubby. All of our safe houses and residences have a similar cache of items."

"Exactly how many houses do we have, Eric?" she asked a bit hesitantly.

I turned around and looked at her. "Do you really want to know?"

She sighed. "You know how I grew up, but I'm tryin' to remember that you've had a lot of time to accumulate stuff—including homes―and we need to stay safe, so I'm makin' myself get used to the fact that you're Daddy Warbucks and I'm your trophy wife." She giggled a little.

"You are so much more than that," I growled as I moved to sit next to her.

She grinned playfully. "What? Are you sayin' I'm _not_ a trophy? I seem to remember you winnin' me."

I leaned in and gave her a kiss that left her breathless. "Perhaps, I am your trophy husband, min kära," I suggested, resting my forehead against hers.

She giggled. "Best. Prize. Ever," she said, kissing me on the lips lightly with each of her words.

I grinned and leaned back so that I could gauge her reaction. "We have fifty-two homes around the world," I said quietly. "I can have Mr. Cataliades send you a list of them if you want."

Sookie shook her head a little. "That's one for every week of the year—you know that right?"

I chuckled. "I had a few more in this area before I sold them off."

She sighed. "Okay," she said as if coming to an internal decision about something, "have Desmond send them to me so that I know where you can take me and Hunter on vacation."

I chuckled. She had only met the demon lawyer once, but—of course—they were already on a first-name basis.

"Well―you already know about the one in Massachusetts," I said.

"How do you pick where to buy houses?" she asked, genuinely curious.

"Simple. I buy residences in places that have monarchs or sheriffs that I like," I answered. "Or I buy in places where there is no significant vampire population. So—I have bought and sold many residences over the years as the leadership in regions has changed. For instance, an old friend of Duncan's just became king of Western Australia, so I am looking into getting a place near Perth."

"Oh." She smiled. "I've always wanted to go there."

I smiled back, already picturing her in a red bikini on the white sand of Cottesloe Beach. Unconsciously, she took my hand and started playing with my palm.

I continued, "I used to buy under an alias or one of my companies' names so that the ownership of the residences was not known. But now they are all in your name so that the protection spell will work on them. Of course, I used aliases for that too so that no one could trace the ownership back to you."

She shook her head. "I have aliases?"

"Several," I responded.

"My crafty vampire."

Her eyes brightened, and I saw a carefree smile on her face for the first time since she had gotten back to this realm. I sighed and felt a tear suddenly burn into the corner of my eye. I was coming to understand what Sookie meant by happy tears.

"Do you have a place in Italy?" she asked.

I nodded. "_We_ have two. One in Florence and one near Naples."

"How about France? Ooh! Paris?"

I chuckled. "Sorry. The vampire king in place right now is a prick, but he is so reviled that it is only a matter of time before he is slain. But we do have a residence in Barcelona, Spain."

She shook her head, but smiled. "England?"

"Yes—and Scotland too. Pam and Duncan also have residences in both those countries. We have a couple in my home country as well—a farm on the land where I grew up and a residence in Stockholm."

"Anywhere with a beach?" she asked enthusiastically.

I was reveling in Sookie's childlike anticipation and excitement over the prospect of visiting new places.

"One in Hawaii. One in Barbados. One in Tasmania. One in Greece. One in Taiwan. One in Thailand. Those are all on the beach. The residences near Naples and Barcelona are also near the Mediterranean Sea."

She grinned happily. "We'll have to have a vacation somewhere warm soon. Hunter would love the beach!"

"I agree," I said, feeling infected by her enthusiasm. "We will go when it is winter here. Barbados would be quite warm, and Petra, the queen of several Caribbean islands, is so laid back that she does not really care who goes in and out. You would like her."

I got up, and from out of the safe, I grabbed the box that I wanted to show Sookie.

"Should I even meet other vampires when we travel?" she asked.

I shrugged. "It will depend on the case. As you know, few of us hold much trust for others, but your gifts are—unfortunately—already pretty well known because of Felipe's and Sophie-Anne's boasting. I think that it would be to our benefit to have others on our side. However, we could travel to most places without it even being known that we were there. And that would be the most prudent course of action most of the time."

She nodded. "Good. I don't really want Hunter meeting many other vampires."

"Agreed," I said with a nod of my own.

"What's that?" she asked as I put the box in front of her onto the bed.

"You have a keepsake box; this is mine," I said in a low tone.

"May I?" she looked up at me, asking my consent to open the box.

"It is one of the reasons we came here, min kván," I said. "In this box are most of the material things that I would grieve to lose." I pointed back to the open safe. "I had this safe specially constructed in order to preserve these things through time."

Carefully, Sookie lifted the lid of the box. She looked almost frightened as she did so.

"It is okay," I assured her as I sat down next to her on the bed. "The safe is airtight and will kill any germs that may be on our skin, so it is fine to touch these things. I want you to know about them, Sookie. They are a part of me, and since you are the _biggest_ part now, you _should_ know of them."

She nodded and picked up a picture of Hunter and her that I had placed into the box on my last trip to the cabin. I had enclosed the photograph into a museum-grade glass cover so that it would survive the test of time. In the photo, Hunter and Sookie were both smiling brightly. The best part was that I was the one who had taken the photograph, so those smiles were for _me_. A copy of the image also sat on our dresser now, but I wanted to make sure I always had a copy of it. Sookie smiled at me and then picked up a second photograph. It was the one of Hunter and me next to the pool.

"My boys," she observed softly.

"That we are, min kära," I returned just as quietly.

She placed the two photos onto the bed and picked up a small piece of wood.

"That is a piece of redwood," I smiled. "I used it to teach Hunter how to sand and treat wood before we began work on our first project together." I moved my thumb over the smooth edge of the little piece. "He was such a small boy then—so unsure of himself and missing his mother. But he took to the woodwork naturally. See this edge?"

Sookie nodded. There was a tear in her eye.

"This was the first piece of wood Hunter ever worked with, yet he sanded it perfectly. He was patient with the work and moved slowly so that the integrity of the wood was strengthened and not weakened by his actions. The master who taught me how to work with wood had a _much_ harder time with me." I chuckled. "I destroyed most of the first little projects he gave to me because I was impatient."

"I can imagine that," Sookie said as she traced the patterns of the wood with her fingers.

"Hunter is _much_ more skilled than I was at his age," I said truthfully. Indeed, my son's work made me very proud. "This work is perfect."

"You're a good teacher," she replied as she leaned up to kiss my cheek.

"The time we spent working on this was also perfect," I smiled a little. "It felt like my whole world was falling to pieces because I did not know how to get you back. Hunter was also very sad, but all that went away for a little while as I taught him how to work with this piece of wood—as I saw his little face relax into his work. That moment with Hunter was perfect."

"It was the moment you became his father," Sookie observed perceptively.

I nodded, once more feeling the burning of a tear in the corner of my eye. I had not recognized it at the time, but that had been the moment that I began to see Hunter as much more than just a child who needed to be cared for.

"The way you took care of Hunter," she said and then stopped for a moment as she looked up at me with brightened eyes. "Eric, _no one_ else—not me, not Gran, not anyone—could have given that little boy what he needed in those days. He needed his father, Eric. He needed―_you_."

A red tear made it from my eye, but Sookie immediately wiped it away. I sighed as I felt her love and pride for both Hunter and me in the bond.

"And we _both_ need you, min kära," I said before leaning down to kiss her softly on the lips.

She smiled and carefully placed the wood to the side before pulling out another item from the box.

"Your father's crown," she said.

"Yes," I answered, the emotion thick in my voice. I felt myself leaning into her for comfort, even as I felt her love and support flowing into the bond.

She placed the item down and took out a tiny vial of blood. It was another new addition to the box.

"Mine?" Sookie asked.

"Niall's," I said, shaking my head. "A little of the sample he gave me."

She looked up at me with confusion in her eyes.

"The business that Niall and I are starting means a lot to me, min kära," I said, answering her unspoken question about why I would have her great-grandfather's blood in my box of keepsakes. "And Niall has come to mean a lot to me."

"Like a father," Sookie stated as realization replaced her confusion. She knew me too well sometimes.

"I've been lucky to have two strong fathers in my life—Ulfrik and Godric. Niall _does_ feel like a third to me in many ways, and this blood proves that he trusts me." I looked down at the vial. "Neither Ulfrik nor Godric ever trusted me like that. Ulfrik—because I had not earned it. And Godric—because he could not give it." I sighed. "Niall could have hated me for killing his daughters, but he has shown me nothing but understanding and confidence."

She smiled at me. "Niall loves you too—you know. He _does_ think of you as another son."

I leaned over to kiss her forehead.

She placed the vial onto the bed and pulled out a brooch.

"This is beautiful," she said, spinning the piece of jewelry in her hands.

"Ah—Pam's," I informed her.

"I'm surprised she let you have this. It's gotta be worth a lot."

"She wanted nothing of her human life once she was turned," I said. "She was wearing this when I first saw her and then again on the night that I made her my child."

I thumbed one of the pearls on the brooch. "I saw these pearls shining out into the night." I chuckled. "Do not tell her this, but it was the crescent shape of this brooch—shaped like the moon was shaped that night—that first drew my attention to her. Of course, the second thing was her rebellious nature, which I admired. And the third was her slapping the hell out of the man she had been secretly meeting when he got a little fresher than she had wanted. Of course, she immediately went back to kissing him after that. I knew from that first night that she would make an excellent vampire."

Sookie laughed a little. "But you didn't change her that night?"

"No. I tracked her several nights after that before deciding to make her my child. I could tell that she did not like her cloistered life from the way she continuously tried to escape it. I did not want to turn a virgin, however, so I waited for her to give herself to the young gentleman she kept meeting. It was simply a matter of time, and I wanted her to have that experience."

"Did she love him?" Sookie asked.

"Maybe," I answered truthfully. "She thought he would help her to run away. If he had, I would have let her be."

"But he didn't?" she asked.

I shook my head. "She placed her faith in him. And it was obvious that she _did_ feel lust for him; however, after he took what he wanted from her, he left her in the alley where he had taken it and went home to his nice upper-class wife. All that he left in his wake was a string of empty promises." I paused. "Do not tell Pam I told you this—she does not even know that I saw her that night—but she cried for many hours in that alley before she pulled herself together and went home. I approached her the next night. Three nights after that, the first person she fed from—at _her_ request—was the man who had broken trust with her."

"That sounds like Pam," Sookie said. She took a deep breath. "She didn't kill the man―did she?"

"No," I chuckled. "Though she was _very_ angry at me for a long time because I did not let her drain him."

"That sounds like Pam too," she said with a little laugh.

"I _did_ allow Pam to seduce the man's wife, however. She did not even need glamour to do it! That was Pam's first woman, though she had wanted to explore that side of her sexuality before. It turned out that the man's wife was as unhappy in her marriage as she was beautiful. So I gathered enough information to ruin the man socially and put it into the hands of a well-placed member of society. We also gave the man's wife enough money to become independent. She divorced her husband, left him in ruins, and moved to America."

"Jeez!" Sookie exclaimed. "Remind me never to piss off Pam's daddy," she added playfully.

"The man _did_ deserve it," I justified. "Pam was still bitter that I would not let her kill him, however."

"She probably still is," Sookie deadpanned.

"Indeed," I returned.

"We should find some Dear Abby for her," she giggled.

"That we should," I looked at her, loving the twinkle that a saw in her eyes.

I ran my finger down the curved line of pearls which followed the crescent shape of the brooch. "She does not know that I kept this. I had thought that she might regret leaving behind everything from her human days, but she never has. Now, I keep it as a reminder of the first night I saw her."

Sookie smiled at me, put down the brooch, and then picked up a very different brooch from a very different time.

"I was wearing this when Godric turned me," I said quietly.

"Is it bronze?" Sookie asked, thumbing the brooch carefully.

"Yes. Godric made sure to bring my father's sword with us after he turned me, but he also let me keep what I was wearing. This brooch was given to me by my mother. And I had this in a pouch at my side." I pulled out a small horse carved out of linden wood. "During my journeys, I made toys for my children. I had just started this one when Godric turned me."

Sookie carefully put down the brooch and took the small wooden toy from my hand, gently thumbing the worn mane of the horse.

"You finished it," she said softly.

"Yes," I answered. "Once I learned how to control my new strength, I finished it."

A tear dropped from Sookie's eye for the children I had lost so long ago. We had talked about them a couple of times. So she knew that I had never really wanted children back then—that Aude and I had had them out of duty. Still, I loved all three of the children I fathered. Our first, a girl, was stillborn, and I interred her wrapped up tight in one of my mother's cloaks. It had made me feel better to know that her tiny body was as warm as I could make it. The two sons Aude gave me were both very young when I was turned. But I was proud of them. They were strong, healthy children, and I hoped they lived into their adulthoods.

I watched as Sookie turned the horse over in her hand. "My youngest son," I said, "was named Åsmund for Aude's father. As I have told you, he was less than a winter old when I died my human death, and I had seen him only once."

"But you were making this for him?" Sookie asked as she leaned her body into mine, taking comfort from me even as I was being comforted by her.

"Yes."

"What was your older son's name?"

"Ulfrik after my father," I answered.

"And he was three when you died?"

"Yes. His fourth birthday would have come right around the time I returned." I chuckled. "Ulfrik already had a little herd of these toys, though many of them were marked by his teeth. He always had one in his mouth."

Sookie chuckled next to me, though unspent tears were shining in her eyes. "A Viking teething ring?"

I smiled and sighed. "Yes. I always hoped that Ulfrik shared his toys with his brother after I died. I always hoped that they knew from these small things that I loved them and had thought of them."

"Did you ever find out what happened to your sons?" she asked. "You told me once that Godric did not let you see your family after you were turned."

I sighed. "The place where I was turned was across the sea from my homeland, and my people thought me dead. And though I learned control quickly, a newly-turned vampire can be dangerous to humans, especially children. Godric gave me the choice, but I did not want to risk their safety. _Or_ their sanity," I chuckled ruefully. "The last thing I would have wanted was for them to think that their father had become a ghost. It was better if they thought I was taken away by the Valkyries."

She nodded, though I felt her sorrow through the bond.

"Many years later," I said, "I tried to research what had happened to my line. My sons had both been named for kings, so I am not certain if the information I found refers to my boys or to their grandfathers. Either way, my line seems to have passed from this earth not long after my human death."

"Until now," Sookie said with both sadness and strength in her voice.

"Until now," I agreed. Now I had Hunter to carry on my line.

We were silent for a few minutes as we both looked at the little toy in her hand.

"I regret that I was not as invested in my human children then as I should have been," I admitted. "After my parents and sister died, I thought only of revenge and of doing what my father had wanted me to do. So I married, became king in his stead, and fathered children. I did all I could to make sure his line carried on, but I did not know how to be a good father then, and I was away much of the time."

"I know," Sookie said, curling into my side a little more before placing a kiss onto my chest. She sighed. "I can feel your regret."

It was my turn to sigh. "I _do_ feel regret—and loss—now. I did not regret what I lost out on before Hunter came into my life, though I did wish that I had been able to see to my children's care. However—before Hunter—I never knew the kind of joy being a father could bring to me. As bad as it makes me seem, Hunter has felt more like my child—even from the first day he was with me—than any of my biological children ever felt."

"It doesn't make you sound bad," Sookie reassured me. "It makes you sound human."

"Human?" I could not help but to chuckle a little.

She scoffed. "You know what I mean." I could almost hear her eye roll before her voice turned serious once more. "Eric, from everything you've told me, you _were_ a good father to your children back then. You thought of them when you made things like this." She turned the toy in her hand again. "You planned to teach them to be strong warriors—just like you. You fought wars to protect them and to build up their legacy. And you hunted so you could feed them. I know that if you would have lived, you would have become closer and closer to them."

"I was afraid to be close to them," I admitted quietly, as I ran my fingers through my wife's hair.

"Afraid?"

"Yes—I was afraid that the marked wolves would come again in the night. I knew that I could not protect my children or my wife from them. So I was afraid to," I paused, "love them too much. If I did, then I knew that their loss would break me."

She placed a soft kiss against my cheek. We both knew that the truths I was speaking right now had never been and would never be spoken to another.

"You are a good man, Eric Northman."

"You have a great deal of faith in me, my love," I said quietly.

"For good reason." She sighed. "With me, you are the best husband I could imagine. And with Hunter, you are the best father, and that's all I need to know."

She laid down the toy horse carefully—lovingly even—right next to the little piece of redwood. And that was when I knew that Sookie loved my human sons and my human daughter, even though she had never met them—even though they had died a thousand years before she was born. She loved them even though they had a different mother. She loved them because they were mine.

"And you are the best wife," I whispered into her hair as I pulled her fully into my embrace. We stayed like that for a while—until I noticed that there was only one more item in the box, an item that I was nervous about her seeing.

"What's up?" she asked, having felt my nerves through the bond.

"I _may_ have done something a little creepy when it comes to the last item in that box," I confessed.

She looked up at me in question before taking a folded piece of denim from the keepsake box. "What's this?" she asked as she unfolded the scrap of fabric and saw the golden lock of hair inside. I had tied the little lock with string at both ends.

"In my human days, a young woman would give the man she loved a lock of hair—a _lokkr_ is what we called it."

"Is this my hair?" she asked.

I nodded and closed my eyes even though I felt her trying to look into them.

"Why do you feel ashamed for having this?" she asked.

"Because I took this before I should have—without asking. Because I took it before you would have been willing to give it."

"When?"

I ran a finger over the denim. "The garment I took this from—all except for this small piece—was covered with your blood."

She gasped. "The night the Maenad attacked me. My denim jacket?"

I nodded. "Bill brought you to Fangtasia when his blood made your condition worse. Ludwig removed your clothing that night so that she could tend to your wounds. Do you remember?"

She nodded. "Yeah. She made Bill and you leave the room before she took off my clothes." She chuckled a little.

"That she did," I chuckled as well. "It was close to sunrise by the time you were on the mend, so I called in Ginger and gave her Ludwig's number in case your fever spiked again. I let Bill sleep in Longshadow's old coffin."

"So you stole this that night?" she asked as she thumbed the curl.

Thank the gods I felt only curiosity and amusement—rather than anger—from her end of the bond.

"Yes," I answered.

"When?"

"Bill was already dead for the day, so I sat with you until Ginger arrived." I sighed. "You were out cold, so I got a warm rag and bathed the dried blood from your face and your back."

I could not prevent a mischievous grin from forming on my face. She, of course, noticed.

"What _else_ did you do?" she asked, her free hand flying to her hip.

"I _thought_ about lifting the towel Ludwig had covered you with and sneaking a peek at your beautiful bottom," I admitted.

"Did you?"

"As tempting as it was, lover, I refrained. But I did," I paused, "run my fingers through your hair a few times. It was so soft and smelled so good." I sighed. "I was almost certain that I would never get to touch it again."

"So you stole this?" she asked holding up the lock. "I never even noticed."

"I took it from here." I moved my hand to the nape of her neck and played with the soft hair I found there.

"And then what?" she asked.

"Then Ginger arrived, and I went to my day-rest. I had her dress you in the T-shirt you found yourself in when you woke up."

"I saw the worry on your face that night—when Bill said that his blood had not helped me to heal," she said. "Of course, you were still being an asshole too."

I chuckled. "I know. But Bill just brought that out of me."

She shook her head. "I was so confused about you then. You saved my life that night. In my heart, I knew that, but I felt so hazy that I thought it was Bill who had done _everything_. I couldn't even see you then," she said with sadness.

"He'd just given you a pint of his blood, and what had I done for you?"

"Other than calling Dr. Ludwig and arranging for my life to be saved?" she asked, with regret in her voice.

"I had Lafayette chained up in my basement even then," I reminded.

She punched me lightly in the arm. "I know. But you would've already killed him if he hadn't been connected to me."

I sighed. "Probably."

She shook her head. "That whole time was just effed up."

"Agreed."

"When did you bring this up here?" she asked me.

"I cut off this piece of your jacket the morning after you were attacked―before I went to my day-sleep. Ludwig had left your bloody clothing on the floor, and I did not want you to have to see it. Plus, although the scent of the Maenad covered your scent to a certain extent, I did not want anyone to have access to something with your blood on it. This piece still smelled of you, but it did not carry your blood. I burned the rest of your clothing in the small incinerator in the basement of Fangtasia. I wrapped your hair into the denim cloth and went to sleep with it in my hand. After our confrontation over Lafayette, I brought it here."

"That was the night I agreed to go to Dallas to help find Godric."

I nodded. "Yes. I was," I paused, "anxious about Godric's disappearance and happy that you were coming to help."

She looked at me like she was seeing my very soul. I had no doubt that she was. "You should have just told me _why_ you needed me there. I would have been there for you—even then."

"I know that now," I said quietly. "But I thought you hated me then—because of Lafayette."

She gave me another soft kiss on the cheek and then wrapped up the hair and placed it into the box before adding the other items―piece by piece―handling each of them protectively. The last item she put into the box was the locket with the silver inside.

I no longer needed it with me, and she would no longer be subjected to seeing it each day. But it was still important to us—to our story together. I was glad that she understood that.

"I'd like to put Gran's engagement ring in here. And I think we should put Godric's shirt in here too," she said as she closed the lid.

"We will bring them the next time we come," I agreed before taking the box from her and putting it into the safe. I placed the smaller box which housed our two daggers on top of it and then engaged the lock.

She looked up at me with shining eyes. "Would you have kept my hair—even if we would have never gotten together?" she asked.

"Yes," I answered without hesitation. "I needed a piece of you to be with me forever—even if it was only that small part and even if I was not admitting to myself at the time _why_ I had taken it."

"Klepto," she teased, even as she brushed a tear from her eye.

"Said the woman who pocketed the silver fragment with my blood on it a few days later," I teased back.

She giggled. "Sorry I ruined another of your shirts," she said, looking at my tear-stained T-shirt."

"You did not ruin it. Your tears always come out in the wash," I said sagely.

She laughed again. "Now you even sound like Dear Abby."

I joined in her laughing.

"Vampire?" she asked, her eyebrow rising.

"Fairy?" I responded.

"We haven't had cubby sex in a while―have we?"

I shook my head. "No, I do not believe we have."

"Well?" she asked with a little challenge in her eyes.

"Well?" I said right back as I took off my shirt. She was taking off hers at the same time.

"Well—I need a little cubby sex," she said friskily.

I jumped on top of her playfully, though I was careful to bring down my weight onto the bed and not onto her. "I got your cubby sex right here," I growled as my lips met hers.

* * *

[_**A/N:**_ Well—that's it for _Sojourn_! I hope that you enjoyed reading this angst-free interlude as much as I enjoyed writing it. I know it really didn't have much plot in-and-of itself, but it was a nice break for me and let me fill in a couple of blanks from _Come Back to Me_. So thanks for your indulgence. Just FYI: It will seem like there's another chapter after this one, but it will only be an Author's Note about my upcoming work. If you are interested, read on. If not, then thanks again for reading _Sojourn_. I hope to "see" you at my next story!

▬Kat]


	20. Author's Note

_**Author's Note:**_

Hello! I wanted to thank you once again for reading _Sojourn_. And I also wanted to tell you a little bit about two of the other writing projects I am working on.

The first is called _Earned_, and it is set in the _Back & Forth_ / _Come Back to Me_ / _Sojourn_ universe. It will be the third and final installment in the main series. It is set approximately 7 years after Eric and Sookie's wedding in _Come Back to Me_. Hunter is 17, and the story focuses on him and on Emma just as much as on Eric and Sookie. (Others from the _B&F_ / _CBTM_ universe are also in the story.) There are new enemies—including a vampire who very much wants to make Eric suffer in the worst ways imaginable. A "supposed" friend will also betray the Northman clan.

The second is called _Uninvited_. It is a "new" story (not part of the _B&F_ universe). It picks up right after Bill attacked Sookie in the van in the middle of Season 3 of _True Blood_. But from there, I am making **radical** changes to the plot. What if the fairies didn't bring Sookie into a dream world while she was dying from blood loss? What if Bill had not been the first vampire to get to her in the hospital? What if Russell became suspicious about Eric's motives earlier? What if Eric never killed Talbot? What if Russell never went bat-shit crazy on television? Well—these "what ifs" lay the foundation for _Uninvited_.

So—those are my stories! And I'm excited about both, but I'm in a bit of a pickle, so I was hoping to get your help—_if you are interested_. I have been going back and forth between these two projects. _Earned_ is currently sitting at 158 pages in its first draft. _Uninvited_ is currently at 215 pages in its first draft. But every time I go from one to another, I lose a bit of momentum. So I want to focus on just one until it's done, and I'd love to know your preference.

If you want to help, go to my WordPress Site. There, you will find preview chapters for both _Earned_ and _Uninvited_. What I've done is taken the beginning portions of the two drafts and cleaned them up a bit in order to give you a taste. Kind of like the first ten minutes of a movie. I'm hoping that some of my awesome readers will check them both out and then tell me which they would like to "see" first. (Hint. Hint.)

If you are so inclined, visit my WordPress site, read the preview chapters, and then vote in the poll. If not, I hope you will still "stay tuned" for my work.

Here's my WordPress site (just take out the spaces): californiakat1564 . wordpress . com

Thanks again for your support. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Y'all are the best readers ever!


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